


Deus Ex: Stolen

by Mana4X2



Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: F/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mana4X2/pseuds/Mana4X2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a dream, Deus Ex: Stolen is a short Teaser taking place about 10 months after the main story to come and is also my first ever Fan Fic set in the Deus Ex universe. Doing it this way has allowed me to explore the familiarity I've planned between characters, gather further ideas, and do the extensive research to see if the whole thing will work long in advance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

Green eyes stared at the floor, the mind acknowledging it wasn’t going to provide the answers she’d been searching for. Too many times the exact same spot had been the go to whenever they brought her back to a room so void of anything personal she was convinced they too didn’t know her identity. They’d stopped even looking at her after about the third day, her constant questioning ignored. Or was it the fourth… maybe the fifth?

Taking a deep breath to quell the anxiety once again starting to build the young woman brought her left hand up to wipe away the tears forming. Instinctually, she knew she had been right handed, learning to adapt the first time she’d woken up in this place. How exactly she’d lost her arm just one of the many memories for some reason alluding her right now. The only thing she knew for sure was her age, 34, because it was part of her Patient ID, 216-34.

“216, time for your tablets,” the female voice came over the intercom beside the door.

“Ok,” she answered, getting up to retrieve the tray as it was slid through the access slot. She didn’t really know what exactly they were but they did help to calm her down.

He stood in the corner, silent and incognito. Adam Jensen watched as Patient 216-34 sat back down on the edge of the bed and took her medication without question or pause. For almost three weeks now at the exact same time each day he witnessed drugs entering the system of a person once so vibrant and healthy. Half an hour after returning from her treatment those who ran this hidden facility would make sure she was too tired and out of it to continue trying to remember who she was. 

Her name was Shaali and Jensen had been searching for her for nearly 8 months now. He wanted nothing more than to get her out of there. He couldn’t. Not yet. Sarif needed more time to figure out a way to make sure this never happened again. He’d almost lost Adam, he was not about to lose Shaali as well. David had sent his friend in knowing full well he wouldn’t have been able to stop him anyway, Adam tasked with finding out how they’d succeeded in shutting down the Nanotech that was so much a part of Shaali’s makeup.

Their success was limited, however. They couldn’t gain control with the machines still active and they’d been bonded with her long enough to permanently enhance all her natural abilities, including the one that allowed body and mind to heal. Therefore, every afternoon, under the guise of actually trying to help her kidnappers would come and take their patient for a procedure that would only make her even more confused.

Following the events of Panchea, the CEO of Sarif Industries had thought all precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of two of his best assets. As the heads of his security team, and also his friends, no expense or possibility had been overlooked. Thankfully, Adam’s suspicions about the timing of the interference to his biochip and the sudden mass recall for every augmented person to get an upgrade had made him listen to his gut instincts and not go through with it at all. Shaali had shared some of her nanites with him to help fully upgrade all of his abilities beyond even what they were initially capable of, and since both of them were immune to the effects of EMP grenades, Pritchard had warned the next step would be some form of external hacking device.

It was this theory Adam had been looking into, fully accessed stealth augmentations enabling him to infiltrate and search for the answers over a longer period of time while also keeping an eye on one of the few people he trusted the most. If they moved on to more drastic means of making her forget or started to physically hurt her in any way in their attempts to gain control, his stealth systems would no longer be needed.

Jensen moved over to the bed, gently touching her on the arm. _Not much longer,_ the promise a silent one.

Somewhere in her drug addled state Shaali felt the touch, too gone to really understand what it was. It seemed she sensed a lot of things she couldn’t see lately never saying anything. What was the point, no one would tell her why anyway. Maybe it’d be better if she just let herself die but whenever she thought that there was this resounding “No!” in the back of her mind. There was definitely something there but Patient 216 was always too exhausted to dwell. 

Adam glanced back briefly at her, the anger he felt only growing each time he caught sight of the missing prosthesis that had been her arm. Similar to his own, Jensen quickly worked out it had been removed the moment she’d arrived ensuring there was no identifiable evidence. Leaning down behind the strategically placed planter box, he quietly lifted the vent cover leading into the building's air-conditioning vents and maintenance corridors. One day soon he wouldn’t be disappearing into them alone.

“Are we any closer yet?” Jensen asked via his Infolink, the moment booted feet hit the top of the industrial garbage bin in the alleyway running the length of the side of the building. While waiting for the answer he reached over and shut an access cover that hadn’t been all that hard to find, slightly hidden by two cardboard boxes.

“I’m not sure, Adam,” Sarif answered. “Megan reported some sort of breakthrough earlier this morning. She sounded quite excited about it but there hasn’t been anything since.”

“Damnit Boss,” was all Jensen said.

“I know, Adam.”

“No, I don’t think you do,” the ex S.W.A.T member replied. “I have to leave her behind every time.”

There was silence from David for a few moments, the founder and CEO of one of the most influential augmentation companies choosing to ignore what Adam was insinuating. He knew where it was coming from more than most. “Adam, we’re trying. We have to know how they did this so we can reverse the process,” Sarif paused, gaze moving to look up the hallway past the doors leading into his office. “Once the recovery wing is finished we can at least bring her home but it has to be shielded until…”

“I get it,” Adam said, the inflection of his tone suggesting an apology. “That recovery area should have been thought of earlier.”

“You have no idea how many times I have told myself that, Son,” David assured him. “But none of us could have thought they’d be this effective. Shaali is like a daughter to me… no one saw this coming.”

Jensen sighed, eyes looking upward at the night sky, noting the edges of dawn on the horizon. Even on the outskirts of a city, the stars were brighter than he was used to. He’d always wanted to visit Australia, Shaali’s home country, wishing the circumstances didn’t involve one of the most important missions of his life. “If this takes much longer I’m getting her out of there whether we’re ready for it or not.”

“I understand that Adam,” David said. “I know I can’t stop you but it’s better to wait.”

“Not for her, it isn’t. From the looks of the latest data I’m about to send you they’ll be testing another way to try and control her sometime over the next few days,” Adam informed him. “She’s slipping further away from us, Boss. I can feel it whenever I’m in the room.”

“Megan and her team will have a look at the data. If there is even a chance it could work you know you have my full permission to do whatever it takes to bring her back to us,” Sarif said, ending the discussion for now. 

David knew Adam would go ahead with or without his approval and he could hardly blame him. For so long they’d been looking and now she was right there in front of him and still his Head of Security could do nothing about it. To have the kind of loyalty Jensen displayed was something even David Sarif was getting used to. Oh, Adam questioned him and made his own decisions when he deemed it necessary there was no doubt about that, yet, he’d never turned his back on him entirely. Sarif couldn’t explain how that made him feel. Perhaps the biggest indication as to how much he appreciated it was when he’d divulged the secret of Shaali’s existence and entrusted her safety to Adam in the first place. 

“Athene,” he greeted with a nod of his head, passing his Personal assistant and also one of his oldest friends. 

“Perhaps you can update me as to what is going on in Australia soon, Mr. Sarif,” she said. “I really must be kept apprised so as to counter any negative press that Mr. Jensen may be unaware he is causing us.” 

“You worry yourself too much, Athene,” David answered. 

“About Miss Evans, yes,” she agreed, revealing the true reason for such a request and watching as David activated the new security panel hidden within a section of the wall beside her desk and directly opposite the doors to his office.

The steel panel split along the line already present down the middle, revealing the security access point to the recovery wing beyond. This time. Shaali was going to be kept close by, where he could personally overlook all that was done to restore her Nanotech and memory. It was very close to being finished, so close David almost contacted Adam again and told him to just go ahead and rescue her already. Still, he was a patient man, and also a very cautious one when it came to the protection of those he really did care about.

* * *

Leaning sideways against the wall of the café a block away from the building he could still see further up the road, Jensen took in a drag of his cigarette, feeling his augmented defences kick in to protect his lungs from any real danger. It was a bad habit, he knew but in his case, it couldn’t kill him. Even so, Shaali hated it. So did Sarif. Malik. The only one who didn’t give him a hard time about it was Pritchard. Probably because he didn’t really care, or so he acted.

“Here you go, Sir,” the waiter who’d taken his order said, placing a plate down on the table behind him. “Please enjoy your breakfast.”

“Thanks,” Adam answered, almost deadpan, moving over to sit down. Bacon, eggs, and toast had sounded good when he’d ordered it. Since then he’d started to think about Shaali and any real sense of normalcy had quickly started to fade.

“Coffee top up?”

 _That_ he would have, nodding. Augmented fingers enclosing around the handle even while it was being poured, Adam’s gaze moved back to look at his partner’s prison. It wasn’t just how they achieved shutting the nanites down he wanted answers to, it was also how they’d managed to overwhelm her on the night she’d disappeared. Shaali didn’t need her tech to hold her own. When he’d learned she hadn’t come home from the movies he’d been the first to start retracing her steps, again thankful for the locator chip implants Sarif Industries insisted every one of their employees have.

His friend hadn’t even made it out of the cinema. They must have known she liked to watch the later showings, Adam often warning her to be careful about the lack of people around. It had taken only a couple of days to learn two of the theatre employees had aided the ones responsible for what she was going through. After that, finding out exactly who and where they were had stretched out so long all those close to her had wondered what they’d find in the end if anything at all.

They'd never given up, though. Adam had made sure of it.

“Jensen, are you there?” Pritchard’s voice in his ear.

Adam swallowed the mouthful of coffee he’d just taken. “Yes, Francis, I’m here,” he said.

“You need to get Shaali out of there now,” the Tech’s words making Jensen sit up stock straight. “Megan passed on the encrypted part of the data to me. Jensen, they’re going to try and inject enough Nanites to reprogram her and eventually destroy her original ones altogether. They were nowhere near ready for this before. They are now. Get her out of there, Jensen,” the urgency clear in his tone.

There was no need for any further verification, information, or how in the world they could even accomplish such a thing considering Shaali’s nanites had built in protection of their own. Adam was up and heading away from the café before Pritchard had even finished talking, all thought of food now long forgotten. They’d always talked about someone eventually trying to take advantage of the weapon she could become, the other side of her ability to use her nanotech to heal, to destroy a person from the inside out as well. There was no way he was about to let that happen. She'd never recover from being controlled like that.

Square in shape, grey in colour, there was nothing special about the air duct he was crawling through, his mind going over and over the pain his friend would be in as the new machines took control of her body. He followed the angle upwards at least two floors, around another corner then to the left, passing three openings before heading up an additional two or so metres, the room he was searching for visible straight ahead. 

It was here that he paused, “Pritchard, that remote access I installed still working or am I about to blow my cover after all this time?” 

“Their firewall rebuilds itself differently after each hack. Don’t go bursting into the room just yet. I’ll tell you when,” Frank replied, way ahead of him. 

Visors sliding over his eyes, activating his ability to see through walls Adam deduced there was only one person in the room, relieved Shaali was still there. However, as he lifted his hands to the vent cover he heard voices approaching until they stopped outside her door. 

“Are we sure this is going to work?” the question asked as the female doctor entered the room. 

“We are not sure of anything when it comes to this technology, Stacey. It’s why we needed our little ace in the hole here,” the older male scientist glanced over at their patient still fast asleep on the bed. “She truly is a remarkable specimen. The first of her kind, but not the last. I am only sorry that if this next procedure succeeds it will fully erase who she is for good.” 

“Yes, but Daniel, she's already a weapon. Why do we have to take away the essence of who she was?” Stacey asked.

“Do you really think she’d just agree to work for us? Come now, Stacey, don’t be so naïve,” Daniel replied.

Stacey sighed. “Yes, I know, but what about her arm. Did we really have to remove it? She’s going to be incomplete enough as it is.” 

“Oh, she’ll be whole again soon, just in the way we want her to be, and under our complete control. There may be a need to remove the other arm as well…”

“Pritchard!” Adam hissed, eyes narrowed behind visors hiding how much the anger was showing right now. 

“Go!” was all the Tech replied with, patched in and hearing all of that. 

How Adam just wanted to burst into the room like Frank had said. He didn’t. Shaali was going to be scared enough without him adding sudden noise to the equation. Besides, as he quietly lifted the vent hatch, moving out and taking up cover behind the planter box, he was going to feel a deeper sense of satisfaction in taking out the scientists before they even knew he was there. 

At about the same time he went incognito, Shaali started to stir awake on the bed, eyes opening to see Stacey and Daniel standing close by. They turned to her when they noticed, both of them smiling. “Good morning, my dear girl,” Daniel said. “We have some excellent news for you.” 

Despite the fact Shaali could see behind them, there was nothing to suggest there was anyone else in the room. The man in the black trench coat simply appeared out of nowhere, in that same instance reaching over to grab the two people who she thought had been trying to help her. In the time it took Shaali’s eyes to widen he’d already knocked their heads together so hard they were out cold before they even hit the floor. 

Patient 216-34 winced and found herself scrambling back onto the bed until her back hit the wall. For some reason, she stayed silent even though every part of her wanted to scream, especially when the man suddenly turned his attention to her. 

Jensen’s face softened, the visors over his eyes retracting so he could look at her directly. “Shaali, it’s me,” he said, hopeful that just seeing him might trigger something, anything in her memory. 

“Who in the world… what did you do?” she threw back at him, briefly glancing down at the unconscious forms of the doctors. “Why did you hurt them? They’re the only ones who can help me remem…” tears started to fall. What was going on? 

It killed him to the core seeing her so scared and vulnerable, and the lack of recognition when she looked at him, that… that hurt even more. He took a step forward slowly.

“No, stay away!” she implored. “Don’t hurt me!” 

“Shaali,” Adam began, “I’m a friend. A close one. I’m here to take you home. This place isn’t what you think. It’s not a psychiatric ward. It’s a laboratory. They are not helping you. They’re making you forget. It’s why you don’t remember me. We were partners once…” he stopped talking, noticing the tell-tale signs of panic on her face. 

“No!” she cried, eyes darting around the room desperately looking for some sort of escape. “They’ve been helping me every day to try and remember. Daniel said I was so close to breaking through the haze… that he’s helped many others do the same but my case was severe. It’s why it was taking so long. You can’t be right…” her gaze moved down to look at her so called saviours. “Can you?” 

Now the confusion was settling in, overtaking the fear enough for Adam to close the gap between them before she even noticed. She looked straight up at him and, with a swiftness she didn’t even realize she was capable of, slid sideways off the bed. “You stay away,” she said again, stepping over Stacey’s prone form and making her way towards the door.

“Look, I get that for all you know I’m the one telling the lies, but please, just hear me out?” Jensen urged. Shaali hadn’t taken her eyes off him, and Adam could see her watching closely as he retrieved the photo from his jacket pocket. “Once I learned they’d taken your memories, I went back for this,” and he held it out to her.

Understandably, Shaali hesitated, glancing at the photo then up at Jensen’s face and back again. Slowly she lifted her hand to take it, a step closer to this stranger in the process. The moment eyes glanced over the image she realized he wasn’t unknown to her, she just couldn’t remember who the man standing right behind her in the photo was, or the woman with short dark hair kneeling down and leaning slightly into her as they held up a glass of alcohol towards the camera in some form of toast. Then there was the long dark haired guy and a much older man with greying hair, and the other woman, longer darker hair as well… 

She looked up at Adam, “I don’t…” tears welled in her eyes again. The look of happiness on her face in the photo, and theirs. They’d obviously been having a good time and she had no recollection of any of it!

“Shaali,” Adam said softly. “The woman beside you there, that’s Faridah Malik, she’s your best friend. David Sarif is behind you to your left. You’ve always looked up to him like a father. Francis, well, Pritchard is behind you to your right and although he’s hard to like…” 

“Hey, you know, Jensen, I’m right here!” the Tech said in his ear alone for now. 

“He’s your friend too. In fact, your tech expertise nearly surpasses his own. The other woman is Megan. They’re also your colleagues…” 

“And who is the man standing directly behind me, and in front of me right now?” Shaali interrupted. 

“Adam Jensen,” he answered, again hoping his name alone might trigger something. “We’re partners. Heads of Security. You never returned home from the movies almost eight months ago now. We’ve been searching for you ever since. They took you from us, Shaali.”

“Why?”

“I will explain once I get you out of here,” Jensen said. “Here,” and he handed her an external Infolink identical to his own. “You’ll hear Pritchard again before you see him. Be warned his voice can grate.” 

“Jensen, I’m going to be the one to come up with a new way to hack your systems if you keep those kinds of comments up,” Frank warned. Once the communication device registered a new user was linked, the relief visibly flooded through the man alone in the Tech Lab on the second floor of Sarif Industries.

“Hello?”

“Welcome back, Sha,” Pritchard said, using her nickname. “It’s been awhile.”


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Travelling ahead of the man in all black behind her, stopping on occasion to receive directions on which way to go, Shaali wondered how it was she’d never even realized there was this type of access to her room before. It was kind of exhilarating sneaking around like this and she couldn’t figure out if there was a part of her that remembered doing it previously or if it was just because at the moment it was something new to her.

“Did you hear that?” the muffled voice came from below them, Adam’s hand instantly reaching out to stop Shaali from going any further. He lifted a figure to his mouth signalling her to be quiet. 

Curious eyes stared down through the slats in the side of the vent she was now ever so carefully leaning forward to see through, noting several scientists and a couple of what looked like guards in grey uniforms. The word _Belltower_ popped into her mind, yet as quickly as it appeared the name was gone again. She glanced back at Jensen, eyebrows raised in a silent question of whether it was time to keep going yet.

“What in the world is taking Stacey and Daniel so long? We’re all set up down here ready to go.”

“Really, Keira? We’ve waited this long another few more minutes isn’t going to make much difference,” a male voice answered her. 

“Are you serious?” Keira asked. “That’s the whole point. This could be the breakthrough in Nanotech control we’ve been looking for and they’re in there dawdling.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll send one of the guards to hurry them up,” the unknown male assured her, an unseen nod given to the man standing near the door.

Shaali’s eyes widened a little. There it was, the verbal proof Adam had wished she'd been awake before to overhear and the very reason why he’d taken a slight detour on the way out, hoping just one of the other employees of this facility would give away the real purpose as to why his friend was here. The look on Shaali’s face changed, and the emotion behind it was one he knew all too well. Grabbing her by the arm again he urged her on before she could act on the fury now building within.

With only a slight hint of resistance, the young woman had conceded, the anger burning and kept silent until they finally reached the way out. “I’m going to kill them!” she hissed, glancing at Adam briefly before she jumped off the garbage bin, adrenaline hiding the slight pain from pressure on bare feet as they hit the ground. 

Jensen inwardly smirked. No, they definitely had not succeeded in taking everything yet. “As much as I get that, now’s not the time, and you are not the killing type,” he told her.

“How long did you say it’s been? Eight months? Eight months of my life gone, and who knows how much more of it before then with these fake treatments!” green eyes flashed with rage. “I could change that side of me easily since I don’t remember it anyway.” 

“No,” Adam said, with such determination Shaali caught a gaze hidden behind visors she’d seen slide back into place just before they’d climbed into the vent. “Eventually, you’ll remember, Shaali, and then regret it.”

“As much as I hate to agree with him, Sha, Jensen’s right,” Frank said. “Unless there was no other choice, you have always been the type to leave even the worst kinds breathing. Although, it would ensure at least this group can’t take you again…”

“Pritchard,” Jensen warned.

“I’m not condoning it. Just saying,” Frank verified.

“If they come after my friend again, I’ll gladly take them out for her,” another voice came over the line. 

“Malik?” Adam verified.

“Yeah Jensen, Pritchard just patched me through. Been in the air since before he told you to get Shaali out. I won’t be there until later this afternoon. Think you can look after our girl til then?” 

“What do you think?” Jensen answered, at about the same time the alarms started going off in the building they’d just exited. “Guess they finally made it to her room. Time to move, Malik. Jensen out,” he said, retrieving the change of clothes in a black bag stashed behind some crates leaning up against the opposite wall nearby. “Here, put these on,” handing them to Shaali and immediately turning away. 

“Damnit,” he heard muttered seconds later, Shaali struggling to pull on the black T-Shirt and jeans by herself. “I can feel this used to be easier, and by the looks of the evidence they left on my shoulder, I know my arm wasn’t always missing…” for now not able to tell Adam’s reaction to that comment because she was too busy concentrating on what she was doing. 

He was the reason she’d lost her right arm during one of their first missions, but not behind the removal of the augmented one Sarif had custom made to replace it. Even though it was as easy as having the money or the connections to get high-tech prosthetics these days, it still bothered him every time he looked at it. 

“Ok, you are going to have to help me with these rather sweet looking combat boots,” she mentioned. “I can handle the buckles, and by the way, thanks for that, but putting them on…” she managed a slight smile when he finally turned to look at her. 

“Hurry up,” Pritchard urged. “Their search is getting closer to the outside of the building.” 

Sha noticed Adam said nothing as he helped her out, soon falling into step behind him, and wondering for a moment what was wrong. She didn’t need to know who he was to recognise the sudden change in his mood. Now wasn’t the time to ask, however, Shaali noticing him pause a moment before they stepped out onto the street. 

The sudden sound behind them saw Shaali instinctively react, pushing her rescuer slightly forwards and around the corner, the two guards stepping out of a previously secured door into a now empty alleyway. With a glance at each other, a look of thanks in his eyes even though his friend couldn’t see it, Adam grasped her by the shoulder and gestured ahead. If one of the guards spotted them when he looked into the street it’d be Jensen's back that’d feel any possible shots fired first.

With adrenaline still running high, the fifteen minutes it took to reach the hotel Adam had been staying in felt more like an hour, taking a bit longer because the ex-cop part of him had to double check they weren’t being followed more than once. The first thing Shaali noticed about the hotel room when she stepped in was the black and white colour scheme, for a brief moment speculating on whether this Jensen even knew any other colour existed. Still, it had far more character and personal touches than the grey and white blandness she’d grown accustomed to over the past apparent eight months.

“Right, so now we’re safe, I need more answers,” she said. “Like, my last name for starters.” 

“Evans,” Adam hesitated none in telling her. “Shaali Elizabeth Evans.”

“Okay, doesn’t ring a bell,” she said, glancing away. “What made me so damn important to them?”

“The symbiotic connection you have with your Nanites.”

Shaali’s eyes widened. “That’s… how can I not remember that?” she asked, glancing down at her arm and imagining the tiny little machines coursing through her body. “Why is it that I can accept what you are saying but don’t have a clue how it applies to me?” 

“I imagine it’s because some parts of your memory are still there, you just can’t access them properly right now,” Adam said, walking past her into the kitchen to their left. “Your Nanites enhanced all of your natural abilities, healing included. They are as much a part of you as you are of them a complete memory wipe isn’t possible. We just learned they came up with the idea to inject their own Nanotech to reprogram you. It’s why I had to get you out of there now.”

Shaali frowned. “Hang on a second, how long have you known I was in there for?” 

Jensen sat down the drink he was in the process of pouring, glancing over the black topped food island at her. “We didn’t know where you were until almost four weeks ago. I couldn’t extract you until I learnt about how they succeeded in shutting you down first, and we needed to make…” 

“You have known about me for that long and you did _nothing_?!” Shaali’s voice rose several octaves, her left hand curling into a fist. “You left me in there at the mercy of those treatments...” it was then Shaali realized something. “No… no way, you were watching all invisible, weren’t you? You were in the room when they kept trying to make me forget!” 

“Sha, settle down,” Frank spoke in her ear.

“Don’t you dare tell me to settle down. You could have gotten me out of their earlier and you didn’t! You left… me… there,” her voice was breaking as the emotion crept in and before Jensen could do anything his friend turned and took off up the stairs she'd spotted in the middle of the open space kitchen, dining and living room area.

“Don’t go after her,” Pritchard immediately said, unable to see where she’d gone but hearing the sounds of her running nonetheless. “I’m switching off her Link.” 

Adam didn’t answer, just stared down at the glass of Cognac he’d picked up while watching her go. He downed it in one swig and went to pour himself another. 

“Jensen, you still there?” 

“Yes, Francis,” he finally said, an edge to his tone. 

“You know she wouldn’t have reacted like that if she remembered who you were,” it almost sounding like Pritchard was trying to reassure him. 

“No, but she’s right,” he said. “I walked away every time,” and with that, the second drink disappeared into a body far too used to alcoholic beverages flowing through its system. 

Gaze taking in the open area at the top of the staircase surrounded by a glass balustrade, Shaali kept going up the hallway, trying a door on each side before the third one on the right revealed the bathroom. The relief palpable after locking herself in, she briefly took in the room before placing her hand on the sink and looking at herself in the mirror. The disbelief, shock, fear, sadness, anger, it was all there, present on her face, in her eyes, running down her cheeks in the form of tears. 

How could someone who claimed to have cared about her so much just leave her there?

She didn’t understand it. There was no reason why anyone would do that if they’d been searching for that long. The tears fell again, driven by what had just happened but not the only reason for the deep-set emotion to so suddenly and overwhelmingly overtake her. Eight months of her life had been stolen! The man downstairs was supposed to be a friend. The person who spoke via the Infolink, Pritchard, did so in a way that gave her no doubt he knew her.

“Why did he leave me there?” the question asked with such pain in her voice it was barely recognizable. She turned and sat down on the floor, her back against the wall beside the hand basin. How to begin to sort through the emotions running through her right now. There was this insatiable need to go back to the facility and kick the living daylights out of the people who had done this to her; take that gun she’d spotted on Adam’s person and start using it. 

Then she was picturing herself going down and smacking Jensen across the face in retaliation to him watching and doing nothing to help her for so long. All the while mixed with this sensation that there had to be a reason why. 

_Think about it, 21… I mean Shaali, he was there watching over you the entire time. That was what you were feeling… remember, thinking someone had touched you or you’d heard something when there was nothing there? Now you know it was this Adam Jensen._

“But again, I ask, why did he have to wait?” this thought said out loud, calming down enough to reach up and press the communicator in her ear. “Pritchard, can you hear me? Why did you all leave me there?” 

Waiting intently for her to come back online when she was ready Frank’s reply was almost instantaneous, “Because we had to make sure they couldn’t succeed in doing this again, Sha. Jensen infiltrated and searched the facility for answers, even while he kept a close eye on you. I know you don’t remember it, but after Megan and her team went missing… when the same thing happened to you Sarif put all his resources into finding you, and not knowing what to expect when we did...” 

“But what is taking so long that it’s been almost four weeks?” 

“Trying to figure out how they shut you down, and the recovery wing we’ve all been working on since Jensen informed us of your location. It’s high security, custom built opposite David’s office. He’s not letting you out of his sight again until you’re back with us properly,” Pritchard paused, glancing at a copy of the same photo Shaali now had in her possession beside him on his desk. “Jensen and I would never have let them hurt you, Sha.”

Tears welled again, this time for a different reason. “Some part of me knows that I just can’t remember why,” she answered, already climbing back to her feet. “I’m sorry for going off…”

“Can hardly blame you,” Frank answered, hearing the sound of running water. 

Shaali splashed her face, wiping away the visible signs she’d been crying. Her eyes were still red, though, there’d be no hiding the fact from the man waiting for her downstairs completely, now feeling a little guilty for how she’d acted. With another look at herself in the mirror, she decided she really did have the right to be angry. For someone who couldn’t evoke a single memory, there was a heck of a lot of stuff going through her mind right now.

Opening the door and leaving the bathroom behind Shaali paused at the top of the staircase. _What am I supposed to say to him?_ she asked herself. _I’m sorry for going off but I’m still irate for being left there for so long? The guy has risked being detected and captured to look out for you over the past month. I should be giving him a little credit,_ Shaali scowled, shaking her head. _And why am I suddenly no longer angry at him?_ this would be so much easier if she could just remember who he was. _Yep, and then this wouldn’t be happening at all._

She reached a hand up to massage the bridge of her nose, letting out a groan of frustration. “Damnit, my head hurts,” she whispered.

The sound of Eliza Cassan’s voice from the T.V. in the living room reached her ears properly as she finally stepped foot on the ground floor again. Following it around to the left she first saw the reporter on the screen before noticing Adam sitting on the edge of the couch leaning forward and watching it. She was about to say something to him when the name of the facility she thought had been genuine caught her attention. 

“We go Live now to Australia with a warning from Damien-Myne Psychiatric to be on the lookout for a recently escaped mental patient,” of course, Shaali’s picture popped up in full for a few moments before minimizing to the corner of the screen as Eliza continued. “Due to a severe form of amnesia Patient 216-34 is considered extremely dangerous. DMP is asking for anyone who spots 216 not to approach or interact with her in any way but to please contact them immediately.”

Shaali’s mouth hung open for a few moments before she regained her composure at about the same time Adam stood up and found her standing behind him. “Lies,” she said. “I wouldn’t hurt anyone.” 

“I’m not seeing that on this end, Jensen,” Pritchard said. “They must be blocking the signal to other parts of the world.”

“Because they don’t want anyone who knows her to see it,” Adam said.

“That’s still a big risk to take. There are many ways to share it outside of Australia.”

“Not without Eliza knowing about it first,” and of course Jensen was referring to the fact Cassan was a very sophisticated AI created by the Illuminati to make sure the news was reported on and discussed the right way – theirs. 

Meanwhile, Shaali just stood there staring at him feeling like the third wheel that had forgotten everything about who it was. “What the heck are you two talking about?” 

Adam caught her gaze, “It doesn’t matter now,” he said. “What’s important is that you don’t go anywhere until Malik gets here.” 

“Well, where exactly would I go anyway?” she asked. “I don’t need my memories to know showing my face when it’s wanted like that is not a good idea,” she watched Adam walk around the couch and continue on past her. “And… I’m sorry, by the way,” she added. 

Jensen paused. “Thanks,” was all he said.

Frowning a little, Shaali shook her head again. “Wow, that’s it?” she inquired. “That’s all you’re going to say?” she sighed, grabbing the digital newspaper sitting on the coffee table and scrolling through it while she headed to the single couch on the other side of the room.

It took all of his training and previous experience not to retaliate in any way, continuing on to the kitchen again. She had no idea how hard it had been for him to leave her there and, even though he’d prepared himself for that negative reaction to finding out time had passed, the pain in her voice, the accusatory glare, just another thing to cut deep down into his heart. That and Adam was having a hard time following through with Sarif’s orders not to reveal too many things to her all at once. He understood why it could do more harm than good, but he had all the answers to help her and he couldn’t even do that.

“I’m hungry,” came her proclamation, Adam hearing her getting closer and putting down the bottle he’d returned to. “Do you have any food here or do we have to order it? Oh, and can we get something decent, like a burger? The food in that place was awful.” 

Adam just looked at her. She’d just gone from being slightly annoyed at him to friendly in all of five minutes. Was she remembering that was what she was like or did forgiving someone and moving on just come naturally to her? How he wished he could be like that. Darkness and holding grudges was never a part of the woman now eyeing him imploringly. 

“How many of those have you had?” she suddenly asked, moving closer to have a look. “I didn’t make you do that did I?” her eyes widened then.

“Four, and no,” Adam said. “Losing you made that happen again,” he said, suggesting there was a time he’d stopped drinking so heavily because he’d had no reason to. 

“Let me guess, you blamed yourself?” 

Jensen raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything?” he asked, turning slightly to retrieve the eBook containing the hotel’s Room Service menu from further up the counter.

“Nope, not a thing. Don’t need to, it’s pretty obvious,” and she reached over to take the bottle. “How about you stop drinking now just in case somehow my kidnappers find out where I am. Bit hard to help stop them if you’re passed out on the floor.” 

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said, holding out the menu to her. 

“Well, that’s a relief, but still...” and she left him standing there with a smirk spreading across his face, taking the bottle and the list of food options back with her into the living room.

Once the order was put in, Shaali was enjoying her first burger, chips, and salad in, well, obviously she couldn’t remember how long. Certainly not while she was in DMP that was for sure. For a place so full of high-class tech one would think they’d have the money to make the food edible. Jensen watched her savour every bite and nearly told her to stop it with the little noises of happiness because it was driving him mad, but he didn’t. She was free now, and he wasn’t going to be the one to spoil such a special moment for her.

Not any more than he already had. 

“Oh man, this is divine,” she exclaimed, reaching for the lime milkshake she’d ordered as well. “You can have some of my chips if you like?” 

Jensen shook his head. “I’m good,” he said, taking another sip of the mug of coffee in his hand. 

“Have you even eaten at all today?” she wondered. 

“More important things on my mind.” 

“So, you’ve drunk, say, four glasses of Cognac and are currently having one cuppa for lunch. Come on, Adam, how in the world haven’t you fainted by now?”

He just looked at her. “Alright, I’ll order something,” he said, feigning a tone of defeat. 

“Good,” Shaali said with a nod. “Least then if Belltower comes bursting through the door suddenly you’ll have the strength to fight them.” 

Jensen’s eyes widened a little, leaning forward and putting his mug on the black and white coffee table. “You remember Belltower?” he asked.

Shaali paused midway through taking another bite out of her burger “I… do I?” her gaze went all thoughtful then, saying nothing for a few moments while she pondered over it. “Oh… okay, yes, the name popped into my head when I saw that guard in the grey uniform but that’s… that’s it, sorry.” 

“Don’t apologise for any of this,” was Jensen’s immediate reply. “And, it’s something, at least. Means the drugs they’ve been keeping you on are starting to wear off.”

“So that’s why they claimed it was for my own good,” she figured out. “So I never got a chance to think.” 

“Right. They knew your mind would heal in-between the experiments to gain control so they kept you drugged and out of it.” 

“I’d like to shove those drugs where the sun don’t shine right now,” she said, distracting herself from the burst of anger by continuing to eat. 

Adam let out a chuckle. “I’d be doing more than that to them,” he admitted, retrieving the eBook menu from where she’d put it near his coffee cup.

"Make sure it’s something decent too,” Sha urged, as she finished off the final mouthful of her burger.

“And if it isn’t?” 

Shaali sighed, standing and heading towards the kitchen to clean up. “Can’t force you to eat, but I’ll be damned if I let you keel over from lack of energy because of me.” 

Jensen stared at the eBook without actually seeing any of the words on it for a few moments. By her insisting he had a decent lunch there was still a hint of the familiarity he’d known between them; a glimpse into the compassionate heart beneath the surface. Regardless, until she remembered him properly the pain he felt wasn’t going anywhere, that half bottle of Cognac now guaranteed to be finished off by early morning.

Putting the empty takeaway containers in the bag they’d come in and managing to tie it up one handed, Shaali placed it in the bin and walked over to the sink. The headache she thought was from the many stresses and frustrations currently being experienced was getting to the point now she couldn’t ignore it. With all the drugs they’d shoved in her system over such an extended period it made sense she’d be feeling off in some way. For some reason, though, she felt this wasn’t entirely related. 

“Shaali, can you hear me?” 

Removing her hand from where she’d been using it to rub her forehead, Shaali nodded, then clicked to the female voice being in her earpiece, “Yes… Faridah, right?” 

“That’s right, and you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice.”

“I’ve been getting that a lot today,” the older woman replied.

“I was going to contact Jensen to let him know I’m about half an hour out but…” there was a pause. “I had to say hello to you. It’s been so long I thought I was never going to see you again,” the VTOL pilot trying her best not to get too emotional over the InfoLink. 

“Well, I’m here, just… need time to remember, and…” Shaali stopped talking for a few moments.

“Sha?” 

“Really hope I do,” she finished, reaching up to massage her temple.

“Listen here, Evans,” Malik began, using her last name the affectionate way she always did. “You’ll remember, and when you do, we’re taking a trip to The Hive to celebrate.” 

“The Hive?” she asked. 

“It’s a club on the island of Hengsha,” Adam informed her, having come into the kitchen at some point and patching in when he realized she was talking to someone. 

“Are you listening to our private conversation again, Jensen?” Malik asked, it pretty obvious by the mock warning in her tone he’d been guilty of previously doing such a thing. 

“Just now, yes,” Adam admitted.

“Typical,” Faridah said, before adding, “I’ll be there in 27 minutes. Malik out.”

“Good. Using the stairs is going to take us about ten minutes to get to the roof.” 

“I told you I’d set the elevator cameras on a loop once you start heading up there, Jensen,” a fourth person now entering the conversation. 

“I know that Pritchard, but can you stop other people from boarding on the way?” he asked.

“Ah, no, not without drawing some sort of attention,” Frank acknowledged.

“And, I’m not going to risk one of them being from Belltower.”

“Fair point.”

“Ready to go?” he asked, noticing how uncomfortable Shaali looked. “You all right?” 

She caught his gaze, “It's just a headache. All this is a little too much.” 

Adam didn’t say what he was thinking, that it was also probably one of the many side effects felt until her body was rid of the drugs completely. He nodded once and proceeded to gather together the few things he’d bought with him plus any other evidence of them being there, including the rubbish in the trash bins. It didn’t take Shaali long to pick up on this, double checking the bathroom and the few other places she’d been. A total of 7 and a half minutes later and they were out the door and heading into the stairway access. 

Stepping out onto the pathway leading to the Helipad, Shaali glanced around, and it struck her as to how accustomed it seemed she was to taking this kind of transport. She followed closely behind Jensen, the sound of Malik’s aircraft getting closer. It wasn’t until she saw it appear over the safety wall built around the edge of the roof and start to come in for a landing that without warning the headache she was experiencing became so bad she collapsed to her knees, it taking all her strength not to fall down any further.

It was the groan of pain that first alerted him there was something wrong, Adam turning, leaning down and, without hesitation, reaching out to take her by what was left of her right shoulder. “Shaali, what’s wrong?” 

Another groan escaped her lips before she was clutching at her head even tighter from the left side only. “It hurts,” was all she could manage. “The VTOL… I remember the VTOL. BE-E…” and that was about all she could manage before another wave of agony gripped her entirely and she fell forward, Jensen instinctively catching her. 

“What the hell?!” she cried, now staring through half-closed eyes at the grey-black colour of the floor.

“Shaali?” Malik’s voice, this time not in her ear but right beside her. 

Just the movement of turning her head slightly to focus on her apparent best friend sent shock waves through now extremely heightened pain receptors. At this point in time, Shaali was thankful seeing Faridah didn’t trigger any more memories. “This is not a drug side effect!” she exclaimed. 

“They were due to give you another dose this morning during your treatment. Without that your mind is already healing,” Malik said, it clear she had been informed of the facilities schedule for their patient. 

“If it’s healing then why is it hurting so much?” Shaali asked, the top of her head currently resting on Jensen's chest, putting her left hand down flat on the rooftop to take off some of the weight.

“You’re nanites are usually there to help you with any pain you are feeling,” Adam began. “With them deactivated you’re now dealing with it on your own.”

“Great,” she muttered, feeling Malik take her under the shoulder and start pulling her to her feet with Jensen’s help.

“Come on,” Faridah said. “Let’s get you home.”


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Adam and Faridah had managed to convince Shaali to lie down, booted feet pulled up and sitting flat on the last of the three connecting chairs supporting her weight. Up until about an hour into their trip, Jensen had watched her stare up at a ceiling that held nothing of importance, the exact colour of it swallowed up by the shadows cast from the various computer screens around them. It took some stern coaxing from Malik, and the look she got from him when she tried to open one of her eyes a few minutes later, to finally give in. At least in sleep, the obvious signs of pain on her face disappeared.

“I know there is still a long way to go but we’re going to get her back, Jensen,” Faridah said, via the Infolink from the pilot’s seat.

“And how long is that going to take?” 

It wasn't a question Jensen expected an answer to and Malik knew that. She gave him one anyway, “How _ever_ long and whatever it takes.”

Adam didn't reply. He knew it was going to take time and the possibility she wouldn't regain all her memories was something he had to prepare himself for too. 

“She’ll remember us, Jensen. _All_ of us,” Faridah said, almost like she was reading his mind. 

“You sure you haven’t got one of these Social Enhancers you’re not telling me about, Malik?” he asked, hiding the darker emotions behind a sense of humour.

“No Jensen, I just know you too well.” 

“I’ll have to change then.”

They both knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, Adam resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward a bit, just watching the sleeping form of a woman he many times thought he’d never see again. Flashes of witnessing Megan being taken while he bled out on the floor had crossed his mind so much in the past eight months he’d almost lost himself to that feeling of hopelessness again. The difference was, at the time they believed his ex-girlfriend and her team had been killed in the fire they’d used to cover up the kidnappings.

When Shaali went missing Jensen knew deep down she was still alive, and he’d found himself wanting to take the short-cut and give in to his anger so many times in the course of looking for her. To so easily lose it and unleash everything he had on anyone with a connection to her disappearance. He didn't, even while watching the experiments performed and the memory wipes happening right before him. No matter how badly they deserved it, he wasn't a murderer and thanks to knowing someone like Shaali Evans, he never would be either. 

_“Only if there is no other option,”_ she’d often said to him during their missions together and he’d just given her that look she’d grown so accustom to, the one that said he agreed but not entirely. 

There was only the once she too had used the extra abilities her nanites gave her in such a way that people had ended up dead. She’d saved his life that day. It was only natural he would now do everything in his power to return the favour.

Shaali rolled over the best she could in her current position, facing away from him, knees still up but now leaning slightly sideways against the back of the seat. Adam shifted a little himself, sitting back and deciding now was a good time to try and catch a bit of sleep as well. Considering he felt the need to watch his partner like a hawk he wasn't sure it’d even be possible. 

“Adam, it’s Sarif, how’s Shaali doing?” David asked, the sound of his boss in his ear coming very close to startling him awake. Eyes no longer covered by visors took a look at the time on the nearest console.

Almost three hours? Well, he’d been wrong about that one.

“She’s asleep, Boss,” he answered quietly. 

“Good. Sounds like she needs it. Did the pain ease at all?” 

“Enough for her to rest for nearly four hours.” 

“You've checked to make sure she’s still… okay, right?” Sarif asked.

“Jensen’s been getting some rest too, Sarif, so no,” Malik interjected then. “I’ve had the internal monitoring systems focused right on her since the moment I got back into the cockpit.” 

“Thanks, Malik,” Adam said. 

“Good, good,” David continued, “I’ve got Pritchard, Megan, and her team working round the clock on trying to finish off the recovery wing. Even if it isn't completely done it’ll be enough to keep her safe for now. And… and maybe having her back with us will allow them to better determine what exactly they've done too.”

“ _Now_ you think that was an option?” Adam asked, a slight edge to his tone. 

“No Adam, I’m just trying to look at the positives of not being able to reactivate her Nanotech straight away. She’ll be with us but…” David went silent for a few moments. No one really had any idea how much losing her had hurt him too. He was good friends with her parents after all. Best mates with her father when he’d been alive; in constant contact with her mother during the whole time Adam had been looking for her. Nicole had travelled from Australia to Detroit the moment she’d learnt her daughter was missing, staying in an apartment in the Chiron building on the same floor ever since. 

“Now they don’t have their hands on her anymore, it’s not going to take long for her memories to come back. She’ll remember all of us soon enough,” Malik repeated, for David’s benefit this time.

Sarif managed a smile. One thing was for sure, with a friend like Faridah there was no way Shaali would be lost to them forever. The highly experienced pilot would never allow her to give up.

“I know you are all talking about me,” came Shaali into the conversation then, still half asleep as she sat up, and proceeded to clutch the side of her head again. “Oh, come on…” she said softly, blinking a few times and trying to shake it off. 

“Moving your head like that is just going to make it worse,” Jensen advised. 

“Can it get any worse? I feel like it’s going to explode and I want to throw up all at the same time.” 

Jensen made a deliberate point to move seats, Shaali glaring at him through narrowed eyes. “Oh, nice… thanks for that.” 

“Distracted you from the pain, didn't it?” he asked, a smirk present on his face. 

“Just a little…” 

“Shaali?” David said. “It’s David… Sarif. I've known you for a very long time and… you’ll be back here with us soon and I'm warning you now, I don’t care you can’t remember me, you’re going to get the cuddle of a lifetime.”

Shaali smiled, the warmth in David’s tone reassuring the side of her that was still freaking out about all this he was indeed genuine. “I can handle it,” she said. “Especially since Adam has told me I look up to you like a father, right?” 

“Yes… yes!” David answered, the excitement clear in his tone. “You’re still in there, Shaali, I know it. The first thing we’ll do when you get here is help with the pain. I'm sorry you have to put up with it until then.” 

“It’s okay,” she said. “At least I'm out of there. I still can’t believe it’s been so long. I can accept what you’re all telling me, but…” she shook her head once more, this time for a different reason, “It’s all just so confusing.” 

"I can only imagine," David said, wishing he could be there with her. “Please understand I didn't want to leave you in that facility. We… we had to, at least at first. I can’t let this ever happen again, Sha.” 

Known as 216 for so long, Shaali was still getting used to being called by several variations of her name, that alone convincing her all this was true. “I know,” she said, looking straight at Jensen. “Somewhere inside I know it was the right thing to do and I think… I can trust you, there are just no memories to go with the feelings.”

“There will be, Sha, I promise,” David answered. “Adam, it’ll be around 10am when you get here so the break room will be full. We don’t want people gawking, so bring Shaali in via the side door to avoid as many of the employees as you can.”

“They’ll be just as excited to see her as we are,” Malik said.

“I know, but right now she’s in no condition to deal…” 

“How about you let me decide that,” Shaali stated. “If you want to start triggering my memories I need to follow the path I usually take after landing.” 

“Not if it makes you nearly pass out again,” Adam warned her. 

Shaali hadn't thought of that. Still… “Just let me do this, okay. Along with what I assume is a prominent building, maybe seeing the faces of the others I supposedly work with will help,” she made a dismissive wave of her hand, “Heck, I don’t know. I've never lost my memory before. Guess I wouldn't recall it even if I had.” 

“Yeah, confusing,” Jensen agreed. 

After David signed off, Shaali tried to remain sitting up, the throbbing just too much. While leaning her head against the side of the jet did help, Jensen could see the strain eventually show on her face, leaning over and touching her arm to get her attention.

“Hmm?” she asked, opening green eyes giving away just how bad it really was.

“Lie back down.” 

“But I don’t want to. I've been lying down and sleeping for the better half of the last eight months of my life. I'm sick of it,” the anger creeping into her tone. 

Jensen nodded, saying nothing. He’d been there long enough to understand just how much they’d made her rest, and he’d been hard-pressed not to blow his cover watching them put her, half drugged and all, on varying forms of exercise equipment to counter that at least once every day. They’d thought of everything to make sure their prize stayed both healthy enough to function but too out of it to heal properly and thus reminisce.

“This time, you’re safe with us, and it will really help,” Faridah put in. “No drugs. No experiments. No expectations. Just sleep, while we watch over you.” 

“Are you always this persistent?” Shaali asked.

“Hell yeah girl, I am. Now, don’t make me come back there. Do what Jensen tells you,” she answered. 

“Any chance there is a pillow in here somewhere?” 

“No, sorry,” Adam said. “Hang on,” and he proceeded to remove his coat and hand it to her. 

Shaali just looked at him. “Really? Okay, you must be a really nice guy.” 

“Hah!” came Malik’s response to that, laughing. 

“Don’t listen to her. I actually am,” Adam said, in that moment relieved Shaali wasn't able to see what he was truly thinking. It wasn't that he was just a nice guy to those he cared about. It was… well, he’d do anything for her, she just didn't recognize that yet.

* * *

“Shaali,” Jensen said, gently shaking her by the shoulder. “We’re here.” 

“We are?” she asked, glancing at a ramp still lowering to let them out. “That was quick.” 

“Sleeping will do that,” Malik said in her ear. “I’ll meet you round there.” 

She wasn't sure what to expect as she followed Adam out, seeing three of the faces she remembered from the photo and one new one, who looked a lot like her. Was that supposed to be her Mum? If so, where was her Dad? Sarif wasn't her real Dad, was he? No, Jensen would have told her that surely. 

“Shaali!” Nicole couldn't help it, running straight over and engulfing her in one of those hugs of a lifetime David had mentioned. 

“I… Mum? Are you meant to be my Mum?” oh, how impersonal that sounded and anyone with even half a heart would feel terrible asking such a question. 

“Yes, Shaali, I am. You’re home now. I'm here. I've been so worried. They didn't stop looking, though, I knew they wouldn't,” Nicky looked at Adam then. “Thank you for bringing her home.” 

“Is Dad here too? Do I _have_ a Dad?” 

The look on Nicky’s face changed, very quickly covered up and returning to normal again. “We’ll talk about that later, sweetheart. We need to get you out of the open.”

Shaali didn't push. However, no matter how fleeting it had been she knew that look. He Father was either not in their lives by his own choice or something had happened. Gaze moved to watch David come forward, he too giving her that hug he had promised. In doing so, Shaali caught sight of the well-dressed, longer dark haired woman close behind him.

“Hi,” Megan said, lifting her hand in a slight wave. “This is so wonderful. It’s good to have you back.” 

“I'm here too,” Pritchard announced, this time not through any form of communication device. 

The now ex experimental patient turned her attention to him, staring for a little bit longer than usual. “Not what I was expecting…” and of course Malik laughed outright while Jensen snickered. 

Frank raised an eyebrow, “Ah, okay, I'm going to take that as a compliment, Sha,” he said, with a smile. There would be no additional affection from him, though. He wasn't the hugging type. 

“Feeling any better?” Megan asked, coming in closer. “Any nausea still? Vomiting? Pain any less?” 

“No vomiting, thankfully,” she said, smirking towards Adam. “The dizziness has gone, the headache, not as bad as before. Are you meant to be a doctor?” 

“No, but I am in charge of the Neuro-Scientific and Nanotech research here and since so far all our Nanite success lies in you, your well-being has and always will be our main concern,” she told her. “I'm Megan Reed. We do go a long way back too, Shaali, but for now, like your Mum said, we really need to get you back inside.” 

Wasn't hard to tell Megan was an expert in her field. Even to someone who couldn't remember, her greeting was genuine but seemingly not as warm as everyone else’s. At least Shaali had some sort of understanding that scientists tended to have a single-minded focus where their research was involved. In this case, getting her better mixed with the need to make sure the facility she’d been in had not succeeded in undoing everything they'd achieved so far.

“Megan?” Jensen warned. 

“I know, Adam, but we have to get her somewhere more secure than out here. Please, come on.” 

Shaali glanced between them, seeing a flash of anger pass over Jensen’s face. _Whoa, what was that all about?_ she thought, letting her Mum guide her in the middle of a group of people she was now realizing were her family. _Why the feelings but not the memories? I hate this._

Her gaze passed beyond the human element to her surroundings. From the walkway connecting the hallway she was now entering, beside a rather extensive Staff Room, to glancing briefly back over her shoulder at the helipad through glass doors the two security guards were now closing. Her Mum paused for a few moments, aware without having to be told her daughter needed to take it all in. Adam and Malik stopped with them, while everyone else continued on for a couple of meters. 

“Oh my goodness, it’s Shaali!” someone said from the break room, and all of a sudden heads popped up and bodies started appearing at the glass doors and walls surrounding it, blocked by the extra security Sarif had made sure was in place.

“Let’s keep moving,” Jensen said, positioning himself between her and the now very intrigued employees. 

Shocked whispers could be heard, many of their fellow colleagues following as close as the guards would allow, behind the group now consisting of the one person they didn't even realize had been found. Necks craned in curiosity all the while the doors to the lift were closing. 

“Well, that just proves everything now doesn't it?” Shaali said in the now near silence. 

“That we’re telling you the truth, yes, it does,” Pritchard answered. “Now watch the gossip chain spread through the emails I’ll be monitoring closely as of now.” 

Shaali remained at the back of the lift when everyone filed out into the lobby leading into Sarif’s office, Nicky glancing at her. “Are you okay?” 

“Not really,” she said, taking a step forward. “None of this is familiar, yet… I know I've been here before. How is that possible?” 

“Memory wipes aren't a complete process. They can take away the images and scenes but the feelings beneath that, that kind of technology will never be possible,” Megan explained from just outside the elevator, her face softening as her friend walked towards her. “And I think I can speak for everyone when I say I am so very thankful for that.”

“Shaali… oh my!” Athene stood up very quickly and came around from behind her desk. “Oh, it is so good to see you.” 

“If I had a dollar for how many times I've heard that today alone…” Shaali’s words trailed off, giving the clearly older woman a smile. Then her eyes widened at the wall splitting down the middle to her left and everything else was lost beneath the sheer coolness of that and the rather impressive security checkpoint beyond. 

“This is going to take forever!” she announced from inside the biometric scanner. “Everyone has to do this individually each time they come to visit me here?” 

“Yes,” David answered, making sure Megan, Jensen and him had already gone through. “It’s just one of the many things we've got in place to keep anyone from finding you again. At least until we know what they used and how to counter it.” 

“Was I always awed by tech like this?” 

“Yes, actually,” Frank said. “It’s one of the reasons I trusted you to help me with a lot of it in the past.” 

Once inside, Shaali headed straight to sit down on the bed, managing to stop from swaying from side to side on the way up by holding on to the bar running the length of the middle of the elevator. Once seated she now let it show enough for everyone to understand what only Adam and Faridah had been privy to until now. 

“Whose idea was it to make this a real bed and not one of those horrible hospital type ones?” she asked, running her hand over the soft dark purple doona. 

“That was at the request of both your Mum and I,” Megan said. “Purple is your favourite colour and this isn’t a lab… well, it is, but it isn't. You've had enough of that sterile environment.” 

“Thank you,” was all Sha said, glancing up as someone new came from towards the back, beyond the four individual workbenches set up, and two others appeared from another room nearby. Leaning around a little to see beyond the doorway she figured out it was a kitchenette. 

“Hello Shaali, I’m Declan Faherty,” the much older man’s Irish accent clear. “This is Nia Colvin and Eric Koss,” he motioned to the other two in turn. “We do know each other but, of course, you can’t remember us yet. We’re part of the team helping with your memories.”

“And how far have you come on that since the last time I checked in?” Sarif asked, the four scientists moving away a little to form a small group with him. 

Nicky sat down on the bed beside her daughter. Malik, in one of the chairs nearby. Adam leant up against the wall beside it and Pritchard, he proceeded to double check all the security measures were in place via the Hub computer just inside the doorway. Meanwhile, Shaali just shook her head at how suddenly all the attention from the researchers had turned to informing David what they’d accomplished and surmising about what to do next. In doing so they’d forgotten to give her that promised pain medication. 

After a few moments, she said, “Painkillers? Anyone?”

Already familiar with the layout of the room, it was Adam who retrieved a bottle from one of the storage cabinets and handed it over. By that time, her Mum had poured a glass of water from the jug on the side table. 

“You guys rock, thanks,” Shaali said, frowning towards the clique now on the other side of the room. Their conversation had gone from civil to at least two of them being slightly annoyed, the arguing starting to escalate. Taking the tablets, Shaali tried to block them out. Despite all she had said to the contrary she wanted nothing more than to lay down and go back to sleep. 

“No, we can’t do that, she’s been through enough!” Megan’s voice rose briefly. 

“But Megan, we can’t proceed any further until we take a look at what’s going on in there properly. We can do that now. We shouldn't wait any longer,” Nia countered. 

“More poking and prodding. This isn't right,” Declan said, softer than the others yet loud enough to be heard. 

“What do you expect, Declan? We have to run more tests to have any chance of helping her,” Eric put in, and from there all bar David very quickly started talking over the top of each other.

“Hey!” Shaali called out before the CEO could get out his order for all of them to calm down. “Just stop,” she said. “Please, just stop…” all eyes turned to look at her. “I'm right here. I can decide what you do from now!”

“Shaali, I'm sorry…” Megan began. 

“No, stop talking. My head hurts so much I can’t handle all this anymore. Go… please, just go somewhere else and leave me alone for a while.” 

Pritchard exchanged a glance with Adam and Malik, even Nicky caught what it meant. The fire in Shaali Evans was still there. She was known for her deeply caring nature, but when she was fed up she wouldn't hesitate in telling them about it.

“I’m sorry,” Megan said again, ushering the rest of her team towards the door. “She’s right, go. When she’s ready for it, we’ll begin.” 

Apologetic looks were given as everyone began to leave the room, Pritchard finishing off his security checks before glancing back at her briefly and going. No more words were spoken except a whisper of “I love you,” from her Mum as she gave her a hug goodbye. She and Malik left just ahead of Adam, who soon caught her gaze, gave a single nod of understanding, and started heading out as well.

“Jensen,” Shaali said, standing up and following after him.

He stopped, watching her close the gap and without hesitation put her arms around him. “Thank you… _thank you_ for being there for me and getting me out,” she said. 

Adam stiffened. He couldn't help it at first. Then he relaxed a little, returning the embrace. Not too much, though. Not the way he wanted to. 

_Damn, if only she knew…_


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

There were many different aspects of his augmentations Adam appreciated and several he didn’t, the one he’d come to be grateful for many a time – built in shades to cover his eyes and hide how he was truly feeling. Didn’t work with those who knew him well, though, Megan watching him saunter his way through the still opening security panel and on past them towards the lift, his demeanour giving off the need to get out of there in a hurry. The problem he found in achieving this, having to wait for the lift to come back up. 

With a glance at David, who merely nodded once and headed back into his office where Shaali’s Mum was already waiting, Megan walked over and stopped just behind a body so tense it looked like he was about to rip something apart. “Adam, what is it? What happened?” 

“Not now, Megan,” he replied. 

Megan stood there in silence a few moments. She wanted to reach up and touch his shoulder, knowing it was best not to do such a thing when he was like this. Besides, she… probably wasn’t the person he wanted to spill any of his innermost feelings to. Not now, or possibly ever in the future. Realizing that hurt deep inside. Understanding why was something she’d come to terms with many months ago now.

“Is Shaali alright?” maybe that would be a better way to approach it, turn the attention to their friend. 

“No,” Adam said. 

“I meant did something just happen?” Megan asked the look on her face almost desperate as the lift doors opened and Adam hesitated none in moving through them. “Adam, please?”

“She thanked me for helping her, Megan... in that affectionate way we’re all so used to,” normally receiving an embrace would be something to be happy about. For Jensen, the statement was revealed without any outward emotion whatsoever. 

With David’s orders in mind, he caught a glimpse of Megan’s shocked reaction, the impact of that sinking in before she disappeared from view and the lift started its descent back to the third floor where his office was located. He didn’t mean to be so tense around his ex-girlfriend or to act like he wished she wasn’t there. They’d sorted out their problems ages ago. They were friends, yes; close confidantes, never again. 

The disbelief and betrayal he’d felt at hearing her greet him so pleasantly thinking he was Darrow back on Panchea hadn’t seen him ready for what Megan had revealed to him next, that it was his DNA she’d made this new discovery from and David had been the one to push it to happen. He’d been so angry, needing answers but with the chip activated there’d been no time to talk about it then. Add to that finding out Megan and David never told him about Shaali until he’d returned and they’d needed his help to protect her, it was a wonder there was any real sort of civility between them now.

Exiting the lift, Jensen walked in a way that told others to leave him alone, making it to his office before anyone overcame the hesitation that would’ve caused to ask him what was going on. He knew it wasn’t right to head straight for one of the whiskey bottles he also realized he shouldn’t be keeping in his office. Right now he couldn't have cared less. Someone important to him had been missing for so long, back in the same building, yet still not there, by his side, where she was supposed to be. Megan had been kidnapped while he’d watched helplessly. He’d witnessed Katrina sacrifice herself rather than let him die to save her. 

All the women he’d loved in his life had in some way been taken from him. He poured the first glass and downed it in one go. The second, third, fourth, he lost count, revelling in that warm feeling now blocking out the pain and eventually allowing it to claim him as he slipped into sweet unconsciousness.

* * *

Shaali opened her eyes and looked at the clock upon the side table directly beside the bed, the chest of drawers yet another piece of furniture giving the recovery wing that slightly more homely feel. Sitting up, she took it all in without the distraction of others. Personal touches or not, this place was still a lab, or, at best, a hospital ward. Thankfully, even in the obvious examples, the monitoring machines, sample and containment fridges, study benches and storage cabinets, she felt far more comfortable here than she had back in DMP. 

Pushing back the covers, getting up, and collecting the clothes she’d discovered at the end of her bed earlier, Shaali took the few steps over to stand beside the chair Malik had been sitting in, smiling slightly as the seemingly invisible door slid open. She silently thanked the designer who had decided to run the bathroom the full length of the security checkpoint dividing it, small details like this proving to her these people really did care a great deal. 

Setting her things down and discovering more personal items she would need in a search of the cupboards, she turned on the shower, stepping in, her eyes widening with anticipation as the steam filled the room. It seemed strange she had slept for over eight hours straight without even a hint of waking up in-between. Guess her body needed it, just as it was reacting with absolute joy at the hot water now running over her skin. She took her time, savouring the first shower she’d had in eight months that didn’t require the help of at least one other person.

She noted 40 minutes had passed when coming back out, feeling refreshed and a little less stressed than she was before, the headache all bar gone. On her way to make a coffee in the kitchenette, she mulled over why no one had thought to put some personal photos near her bed, or somewhere on one of the many surfaces in the area. 

_They must have their reasons,_ she thought, stirring the cup and staring down at it. “I can remember I have one sugar in my coffee but can’t remember the people who mean the most to me, at all. Really?” she sighed. 

Exactly how long was it going to take for even just the slightest recollection to return, and what about her Nanites, were they going to be okay? She raised an eyebrow. She actually cared about her Nanites too? Well, Adam had said there was a symbiotic relationship. Did that mean they were able to communicate with her in some way and vice versa? Aside from the faces that’d been there on her return, there was far too many of the heavier scientific things to think about as well, Shaali deciding then and there she’d leave that up to Megan and her crew. 

Walking back out into the main part of the wing, she made her way around the room, stopping on occasion to read a label or set down her coffee cup to pick up one of the Ebooks, tools, even the small cardboard boxes on the benches. All evidence they were definitely still in the middle of setting up and finishing off the area. Shaali eventually stopped near the door leading back out into the lobby, watching it slide open at sensing her presence. She eyed it for a few moments, something telling her she really shouldn’t head out of an area David and the others thought was a safe place. Curiosity got the best of her, however. Besides, it was late, chances were not many were around. 

The Bioscan out of the way, and a security panelled wall already closing behind her, Shaali took in the slightly darkened lobby, noticing Athene was no longer at her desk. Drawn to the doors directly opposite, she crossed over and pushed them open, slowly walking into David’s office. At the sight of the various sized, spherical decorations hanging from the ceiling she leaned her head to the side, shaking it a little as something entered her mind yet was gone before she could properly glimpse it. The sense of being here previously was so strong she wondered why nothing was coming to her yet. 

Her gaze fell on the painting of Sarif above the fireplace to her right, turning slightly to rest her left hand on the mantle, where she stood to study his features. Maybe if she stared at it for long enough she’d remember who he was. Part of her felt like screaming, the other wanted to just break down and cry. She wouldn’t though. Not until she was certain all of this was gone to her forever, and even then, that sort of thing would be done privately, where no one else could witness just how truly devastating even the mere thought of that was to her. 

She turned around, unable to miss the massive screen taking up much of the wall behind a desk set to an angle, and the equally oversized, black statue in the corner of the room, her gaze lingering on the pile of books at its feet. Then her attention broke from that to one of the most breathtaking views she had ever seen through the almost floor to ceiling windows. There was this ‘hey, hang on a second’ moment before Shaali found herself heading over so quickly bare feet nearly slipped on the tiled floor. 

Staring wide eyed, she cried, “Detroit, oh my goodness, I remember this view!” smile widening, even though the dull ache was starting in her head again. “David, I remember this view!” and of course the pain hit her so hard then she collapsed to the floor, refusing to move from the position on her knees as the other memories of time spent in this office flashed through her mind like someone was pressing fast-forward on a remote control. 

Tears streamed down her face, both from the physical reaction and the sheer overwhelming delight of actually recalling something, reaching her hand up and touching the window, almost like she was caressing the area beyond. “Finally… hope,” she whispered, seeing David’s reflection in the glass as he walked in a few moments later, heading straight over to lean down by her side. 

“What are you doing in here?” he asked. 

“What do you think?” she answered, simply. “All the places I have been are outside of the recovery room. To have any hope of remembering sooner rather than later I can’t stay in there all the time.” 

“Pushing too much too soon isn’t going to help,” Sarif answered, sounding very much like her father. 

“That’s the thing, I don’t care about the pain, David. I just want my life back, to know who everyone is. And don’t think I’m not aware there are things you all aren’t telling me, about my Dad, how I lost my arm, about the other harder experiences in my life. I gave Adam a hug of gratitude last night and he stiffened, then seemed to relax, but not… I don’t know, it was like he was holding back or something…” 

“You’ve always been too damn perceptive, Shaali,” David interrupted. “I understand how you feel,” and he held up his hand before she could counter. “But the people who took you will come sniffing around here again soon enough, and I won’t have them succeed in finding you again.” 

“You can’t protect me forever, David,” Shaali said, turning slightly to look straight at him. “Although,” and she took a few moments to study the real man rather than a depiction of him this time, “I do appreciate how thorough you’ve been with that in the past.” 

Brown eyes catching green, Sarif looked at her with all the hope he felt in what he thought she meant by that. Shaali nodded. “Yeah, it’s the view,” she said, smiling at him. “We’ve looked at it so many times together. No one could ever truly forget that.” 

David pulled her into his arms, the two of them standing up. “What else, Sha?” 

“Just you, for now,” she clarified, fresh tears falling against his shoulder.

* * *

He hated himself just that little bit more every time he awoke from a drunken stupor, completely and utterly unaware of what was going on around him. Add to that the sudden onset of a nightmare about the very thing he was afraid of at the moment – Shaali forgetting him altogether, and it wasn’t really a way to escape what was going on at all. Not in this case. Now leaning forwards with his head in augmented hands clutching at the sides of his face, Adam had a vague recollection of sitting up so suddenly from where he’d been leaning sideways on the black two-seater couch. He inwardly groaned as the images from his dream refused to stop playing over and over, the man wishing he could somehow reach in and tear them out. 

Through half closed eyes, dealing with the hangover pouring drink after drink into his system had caused, he looked up, immediately trying to stand when he realized how long he’d been unconscious for. Covering the distance to the security terminal beside his own personal computer, Jensen typed in a password that changed twice every day and brought up the security feed into the main sections of the recovery wing. He was one of only three people that had direct access like this, the other two being Pritchard and Sarif. 

Relief flooded through him at the sight of Shaali awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, currently talking to her Mum. Reaching over he pressed the command that would allow him to hear the dialogue as well. 

“… I said I was sorry, but I can’t stay in this room forever,” he caught his partner saying midway.

“Yes, but next time you need to tell someone first,” Nicky said, her voice firm yet full of affectionate concern. 

“Mum,” and of course Shaali said this without the true memories behind it just yet. “It was spur of the moment, and if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have remembered…” 

Jensen shifted in his chair, leaning forward, elbows on the table. He was supposed to be looking out for her and he was only now finding out she had left the room. 

“… David. That view in his office triggered something. I need to go everywhere in this place so that can happen again. I want to remember, Mum.”

“I understand, Sweetheart,” Nicky said, lifting her hand to place on her daughter’s. “We’re just worried about you in your current state. We have to protect you.” 

“Now the drugs are out of my system I am more capable than I was,” Shaali assured her, looking down at the photo of three people standing in front of a five-man tent. “So, I like camping then?” she asked. 

Nicky smiled. “Very much so.” 

“Is that Dad? Where is he now?” 

It was hard for Nicole to hide her feelings when it came to Shaali’s father; even harder for her to stop the fact she had to tell her about his death during Darrow’s activation of the chip upgrade from showing on her face. Looking into green eyes expecting an answer, Nicky felt the tears well up behind her own hazel ones, refusing to let them fall. “We don’t have to talk about this now, Shaali,” she said. “It’s… it’s not the right time.” 

Sha had been right. It was something really bad. Still, “And when is the right time? What if I don’t remember? Mum,” and Shaali touched her arm. “Bad memory or good, I have to know. It’s the only way.” 

“He’s gone, Shaali. He died about ten months ago now,” at this point a few tears escaped, the older woman wiping them away. “I will not tell you how. That is something you need to let your mind find again itself.” 

Shaali looked at her mother closely, realizing there was something much deeper and far darker involved. She simply nodded, though, looking back down at the photo and seemingly not reacting to finding out her father was dead in the way a daughter normally would. In fact, with no memory, not even a fleeting glimpse, she really had no reaction at all. She found it strange the memory of David had returned but not that of either of the two people who raised her. 

The lack of reaction cut into Adam’s core more than he thought it would. His own fear of forever seeing the same thing whenever he was involved, coupled with the nightmare causing him to sit back hard in the chair, struggling to keep control of the one burgeoning emotion he really didn’t want to want to overtake him again.

“Decent food is on its way,” David said, entering the recovery wing and meeting Shaali’s wide smile with one of his own. 

Even with the obvious gaps, he was the only person she recollected so far and that made her so overwhelmingly happy she got up and moved over to reciprocate the hug he’d given when she’d first arrived. “I see you changed your shirt,” she said, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry. No more tears this time,” she promised. 

“I’m not worried about that,” he replied, glancing at her Mum. “I take it you’ve been told to let us know of any future excursions next time.” 

“Of course, and you don’t need to repeat it again,” she warned him. 

_Don’t let it get to you, Adam,_ the thought crossed his mind. _She’ll remember you. She will._

_But you weren’t there when she left the recovery wing. You passed out thinking only about yourself. What if something had happened, and you weren’t there to protect her?!_

_Damnit, don’t focus on that! She’s safe. David obviously found her._

_Yes, **David** found her, not you. Where were you? Drowning **your** sorrows and leaving Shaali to deal with hers on her own, that’s where!_

“Shut up!” Jensen growled, the blade put through the computer screen before he really thought about it. The same computer then picked up and hurled across the room, smashing to pieces against the reinforced glass allowing him a view overlooking the foyer. 

From then, he didn’t think, he just reacted, overturning the desk and watching with a macabre sense of satisfaction as the other computer was ripped from its terminal in the process. Books, papers, files and folders flew off the shelves and chest of drawers behind him, the steel filing cabinet in the corner leant upon for a few moments while he stopped briefly to breathe. Only to hear the voices of blame continue on in his head, where he proceeded to punch the cabinet so hard it embedded into the wall behind it, the top draw so dented it would never close again.

That just seemed to fuel the anger, the drawer yanked out and hurled behind him where it smashed into the wall above the couch. He leaned down to do the same to the other two, crouched and glaring at the floor, revelling in picturing the damage as each one followed a similar path to their predecessor. 

“Ah, Jensen, do you know how much work is involved in replacing those damn computers?” Pritchard said without warning in his earpiece. 

“Pritchard, if you know what’s best for you, shut it!” Adam answered, Frank’s interruption at least stopping him from doing any more damage. It added to the fury, though, Pritchard the last person Jensen wanted to hear go on at him right now. 

“Wow Adam, you really think Shaali would be impressed with the way you’re acting?” and this time the Tech was opening the door and entering the room. “What the hell did the desk do to you anyway?”

“Get out,” Adam warned. 

“Ah, no,” Frank answered. “You’ve got everyone nearby wondering what in the world is going on, and since it involves our head of security seemingly losing his mind it’s down to me to come and do something about it.” 

Jensen finally stood up and turned around, Frank not showing just how intimidating that move was yet feeling it all the same. “I suggest you stop it before the entire room has to be written off, and that’s coming out of _your_ paycheck, by the way.” 

Something stopped Adam from punching the guy in the face, a thought that had crossed his mind many a time since meeting one of the most annoying people on the planet. Still, if his augmentations included lasers in his eyes, Frank would be burning up right about now. “I said, get out." 

Pritchard knew he was not the person to talk Jensen down in this state, patching through to David in the recovery wing. “Sarif, sir, we have a slight situation down here. Any chance we have the budget to replace the security office?” 

“What? Frank, what is going on?” David answered. 

“Jensen’s gone and unleashed his augmentations on innocent, inanimate objects. My presence here seems to have stopped him, but…” 

“I’m on my way,” David said, giving Shaali and Nicky a nod goodbye. 

With a quick glance at her daughter, Nicky got up and followed. “David, let me,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to talk to him properly since all of this happened.” 

“I don’t like to say it, but anyone with augmentations is dangerous when this angry. I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

“This is Adam we’re talking about. He won’t hurt me, David,” Nicole said, a small smile curling the corners of Shaali’s lips, watching the two leave the room. Somehow, despite everything, she knew that too. 

“Nice one, Francis?” Adam hissed. “You didn’t have to tell the boss. I’ve got this under control.” 

“To hell you have,” Pritchard replied. “Control is not one of your fortes and this proves it, again. Come on Jensen, how does this accomplish anything?”

Jensen just glared at him. “It made me feel better,” he said.

“Oh, so I suppose it’s alright if everyone having a bad day does it then?” 

“It’s been eight months, Pritchard. Eight damn months!”

“Yes, and you’re not the only one whose been suffering through it. You don’t see me tearing my office apart, though!” 

Adam felt the emotion boiling again, hard-pressed not to cover the distance and grab the technical genius by the throat. He took a couple of steps, to which Pritchard held his ground. “Oh yes, so now you’re going to take it out on me too?” the accusatory tone clear. “Come on then, do you best. Show everyone just what kind of person you really are,” Frank didn’t really mean that, in the heat of the moment his own anger surfacing. 

“Stop it, both of you!” another voice spoke up then, all eyes turning to Nicole now walking into the room. “Pritchard, out!” she said without hesitation, eyes narrowed at him slightly and then moving to Jensen. “You, back off, now.” 

It was surprising how quickly both men moved to comply with the older woman’s orders, Pritchard about to say something in his defence, thinking better of it when Nicky gave him the same stare again. He left without anything further, Shaali’s mum now able to focus her full attention on Adam, who, by now, had his back to her looking out the undamaged window down at the atrium. 

“Adam, what are you doing?” she asked him, one of the few people who knew this wasn’t the first time he’d lost it like this. 

“I don’t know,” he said, honestly.

“Are you drinking again?”

“I think that’s obvious.” 

“No, please, Jensen, we’ve been through this. You can’t… Shaali helped you through everything you were feeling. She stopped you from needing that any more.” 

“And then someone took her from me.” 

Shaali had often confided in her mother about what had caused such pain in Adam Jensen. Nicky knew what’d happened to Megan and her team, how he’d lost Katrina Sutherland after falling for her deeply in such a short time. As for the events of Panchea, well, she didn’t know every little detail, her security level wasn’t high enough. Still, they could all see how the effects of that day was changing the history of mankind forever. Shaali had helped him through all that, though, been a stalwart when all he’d wanted to do was break into pieces behind that stoic façade he always seemed to put up.

“You have to pull yourself together for Shaali’s sake, Adam,” she said. “You can’t help her like this.”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to even be in the same room as her?” the anger creeping into the question. “I’ve been ordered not to tell her the truth about who she is to me, while you get to sit there and do the opposite.” 

“Okay, I know you’re hurting, Adam, but stop now before you go any further. I’m not the one who gave those orders. I don’t agree with them but I can see David’s point. Look around you…” and she motioned to the damage. “I don’t know what set this off, but how do you think you’d respond if there was no reaction after telling her she is more than just your partner at work? And what about her, how do you think she’d feel? They may have taken her memories but they haven’t changed the woman Shaali is inside. It’d kill her not being able to recall feelings like that.”

Jensen turned his head slightly, the look in his eyes giving away the answers to all of those questions. “She gave me a hug to show her gratitude for getting her back home, Nicky,” now there was a different kind of emotion in his voice. “All I wanted to do was hold her.” 

Shaali’s Mum stepped in closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I know this is hard, Adam. That’s my baby girl up there and she looks at me like I’m a stranger. I can’t tell you how much it hurt when she didn’t return the cuddle I gave her. I mean, I understand…” Nicole’s words trailed off. 

Stepping away, she took in the state of the room properly, picking up a book directly at her feet. “The thing is, Jensen, you can’t go on like this,” she continued, placing it on the couch. “And, I’m sorry, but until you gain control of yourself again, I’m not about to let you anywhere near my daughter.”

Jensen didn’t answer, as Shaali’s mother had a feeling he wouldn’t. She left the room with the warning hanging over his head. It wasn’t a threat. It was a mother protecting her already vulnerable child from any more pain. Jensen knew that. Deep down in his heart, he understood. Shaali had held out her hand to pull him up from that dark pit he sometimes found himself in. 

It was about time he was there to do the same.


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

As she watched the honey pour from the squeeze bottle on to her two pieces of toast, Shaali thought about what her Mum had told her after returning from the talk with Jensen the night before. Her negative reaction to Nicky’s honesty about the warning she had left with him stemmed from this sudden and overwhelming need to help him just as he had helped her. Still, she was beginning to understand why her mother was so worried. Heck, even without her memories Shaali knew if she had a child she’d be the same way. By the end of the small argument that had ensued Nicole had taken her daughter in her arms and simply said, “I can’t let him lose it like that around you.” 

_You said it yourself, though, Mum. He won’t hurt either of us,_ she once again thought, picking up a piece of her breakfast and taking a bite. She almost squirmed with delight at the taste of the honey. “How can something so simple be so delicious?” she exclaimed. 

“Huh? What was that?” Megan called out from her position at one of the lab benches, currently looking under a microscope at a sample of blood she’d taken from her friend moments earlier. 

For a while there Shaali had forgotten she’d woken up about half an hour ago to the sound of soft whispering, the team of scientists leaving her to sleep while they went about setting up a few things as quietly as they could. “Honey. How does it taste so good?” 

“Well, I could stand here and tell you the process the bees go through to make it if you like?” Megan answered, a smile curling her lips as she wrote down a few notes on the clipboard beside her. 

“What? No,” came Shaali’s response, the older woman coming out of the kitchenette and just looking at her. 

“I’m kidding, Shaali,” she assured her. “I think your reaction might have something to do with your memory loss, though. Part of you knows you’ve had it before, yet it’d still feel almost like a new experience to you.” 

Shaali held up her forefinger to show she was finishing off the last mouthful so couldn’t respond straight away. Seconds later, “So, I’m going to go through this every time I eat something now?” 

“Not with everything, no,” Dr Faherty interjected then. “Just the foods you really used to like, I believe.” 

“It’s actually pretty cool,” she said, glancing over Megan’s shoulder. “So, anything yet?” 

“No, and that is what is so disconcerting,” she looked up at the members of her team spread out over the other workbenches nearby. “Please tell me you’ve found something?” 

“This is not…” Eric stood up straight and shook his head. “Where are they, Megan?” 

“Where are what?” Shaali asked. 

“Just like the other samples Adam sent back to us, there is not even a hint of them in any of these ones either,” Nia spoke up. “How are we supposed to figure out what they’ve done if we can’t even find where her Nanites have gone?”

“They can’t just be gone,” Declan said. “Clustered maybe… perhaps that is how they managed to shut them down.” 

Megan nodded, already moving to the specialized CT scan set up as a part of the back wall. “That’s possible, Declan,” she agreed, glancing over at Shaali. “You nearly ready?” 

“Ah, yes, I’m ready now, but…” Shaali paused a moment, lifting her hand and staring at it much like she had when Adam had first told her about her Nanotech. “They’re not flowing through me everywhere then?”

“They’re supposed to be,” Eric informed her. “Even inactive they’d be following the natural paths of your bloodstream. If Declan’s theory proves right… actually, it’d be the _only_ way to shut them down. Why didn’t we think of that before?” 

Shaali looked between them all, marvelling at how quickly their minds worked yet wondering if it was all that fun to so suddenly be swapping between tangents all the time. A thought did occur to her then too, “What if they aren’t in there at all anymore?” 

“Oh please, don’t say that,” Nia immediately countered. “No, they have to be.” 

“Come on,” Megan motioned towards the CT scan. “Let’s have a look.” 

Shaali moved over towards the hulking grey and white machine, eyes taking it in warily, “These things aren’t supposed to have metal anywhere near them. Aren’t nanites a form of metal?” man, she felt so stupid asking. Still, somewhere in the back of her mind, a giant red warning sign was flashing. 

Declan laughed a little. “Oh dear Sha, it’s not your typical Ct Scan, it’s actually a bigger version of the Stasis pod, specially designed for giving us a look at how your Nanotech is working as a whole. Take a look. It’ll come up on the screens around you.”

Evans blushed. “Yeah, not a scientist,” she revealed. “I’m supposed to be a tech expert, though. I’m…” she looked at the floor, ashamed. “I’m just going to get in there now.” 

“Shaali, it’ll come back, I promise,” Megan said, a brief glance given towards Declan then. 

No one wanted to tell their friend that depending on what was going on inside her there was every chance parts of her memory may be permanently damaged. Exactly what she might lose, they didn’t know and maybe there wouldn’t be anything at all. They had to face every possible scenario though and for now, they’d all agreed Shaali did not need the burden of being told. 

“What in the world is that?” Nia said, minutes later, all attention now on the large computer screens built down and around the front of the machine. 

Megan reached up and placed her fingers on the interactive image, manoeuvring the scanner back down, and pausing it at the dark clusters around their patient’s heart. She pressed the enhancement button to bring them further into focus, eliciting a gasp at almost the exact same time from each one of them. 

“Is that all of them?” Eric asked. “It can’t be.” 

“How did they get them to all go to that one spot?” Declan wondered. 

“That’s easy,” Nia said. “There are only two places in the body that need protecting that much. Her heart, and her brain. I bet they did something to make her tech believe the former was in trouble.”

“Surely she would have felt that, though?” Eric disputed. 

“No, not if whatever it was mimicked one of those silent heart attacks,” Megan said. “The thing is, what did they use and how did they get it into her?” 

“It’s got to be another form of Nanotech,” Declan said. “It’s clear the psychiatric facility is a cover for such research. Hang on, bring up the foreign body scan. Maybe there are still some in there and if we can isolate them…” 

Shaali could hear the entire conversation from inside the machine, the awe she felt at the holographic interfaces lit up in blue and white hues all around her drowning out the heavier of the scientific speech. It was interesting though that a lot of it did make sense to her. What better way to force her Nanites into protective mode than to attack the two key parts of any living beings body. She could see the same bunching around her heart on the floating image above her, the sight of her heart beating and the sound in her ear… that was something else. It really was. 

Attention focused fully on the Nanites, with her loss of memory Shaali only now getting a tangible sense of what they really were and just how many existed inside her, no wonder she had this feeling of emptiness she couldn’t describe. Something had been missing, and she hadn’t a clue what until now. Without warning an alarm started to go off, red dots lighting up sections of the holographic clusters.

“Get them out of me, now,” she called out, unexplainable anger flaring up inside her.

“It’s not that easy, Shaali,” Megan replied. “We have to isolate them first otherwise, we could be killing your original ones for good.” 

Killing? Why did Shaali experience such a strong emotion at the mention of that? Destroying was the right word, wasn’t it? Not killing, they weren’t alive after all. _Yes they are,_ her mind unexpectedly yelled. _They’re sentient AI. They’re alive, because of you. They **are** you. Keep them that way!_

“Don’t hurt them!” she found herself crying out, eyes widening at how fearful she sounded, and mere seconds later asking herself, “What? What’s… where did that come from?”

For all the disbelief and shock this revelation had caused, Shaali’s reaction to her Nanites possibly being in danger made everyone outside of the machine smile with a renewed sense of hope. She had always been as equally protective of them as they were of her, and without even realizing it, that instinct was still very strong. 

The moment Shaali was out of the scanner and able to get up, she looked straight at Megan and said, “I’m so over how confused this is all making me feel. You have a file on me, right? Recordings of me in action? I need to look at those now.” 

The uncertainty was clear as the four scientists exchanged glances, it falling to Megan to answer, “I think it’s too soon for you to be reviewing any recordings. The file, though,” and she got up, moving over to retrieve it from under her clipboard on the bench. “Here,” she said, only marginally startled by the fact Shaali had followed very close behind her. 

Heading over to sit cross-legged on her bed, Shaali placed the folder down, took a deep breath, and opened it to the first page: 

Patient I.D. – SME-101  
Patient Name: Evans, Shaali Elizabeth  
Age: 34  
Sex: Female  
Family: Joseph ‘Joe' Evans (Father, Deceased) | Nicole ‘Nicky’ Evans (Mother)  
Background…

The concentration on Shaali’s face never changed as she read up on a past she had no idea about, except for the connection she had to Sarif. She couldn’t remember her father being such close friends with him, the two having met during one of the many Augmentation conferences David had attended when he was younger. This led to Joseph eventually working for him within a subsidiary of Sarif Industries in Brisbane, Australia, while her Mum looked after various rescue animals on the farm they owned in basically the middle of nowhere. Her own face was staring right back at her in the file and she couldn’t even recall the most basic of things about her. 

“This is ridiculous,” she said, after a few minutes of just staring at information now going all blurry. Even the lab notes about how the Nanotech had integrated with her and the photos and sketches that went with them were not holding her attention. It all meant nothing to a mind so void of anything that truly mattered to her right now. “Visuals, I need visuals,” she stated, closing the file and getting up. “Megan, please, this is all just words and images. Show me something I can see myself a part of. I need to understand why I care so much about my Nanites.”

“Because for some reason, those tiny little machines became sentient after assimilating with you,” Eric hesitated none in telling her. “We believe it’s because you passed on your experiences and treated them like they were alive already. You’ve always cared, Shaali, even about a technology you can barely see.” 

“Eric’s right, Sha,” Megan continued. “We don’t understand it fully and we probably never will, but those Nanites programmed themselves for you, and you alone. So much so that if you are separated for too long, they’ll cease to function, or ‘die’ as you used to call it.” Reed leaned over an otherwise blank looking table centred in front of the work area, the holographic form of Shaali seemingly rising from its centre. “This is another reason…” and with another flick of her hand over the now bright surface, the footage began to play.

_“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” the recorded version of Shaali said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”_

_“No, Dylan, Miss Evans is here to help,” Megan agreed from the background. “Remember, she’s going to use her Nanotech to heal you. Just lie still and don’t be afraid of what you're about to see.”_

_Shaali lifted her right hand, looking at it closely, the video zooming in on every detail. They rose through the pores of her skin, pink flesh turning a dark grey it was almost black, Shaali noting the look of fear on Dylan’s face as she reached over and placed it directly onto his misshapen wrist. He winced at the pain the mere touch caused, too focused on watching what looked like a liquid flow away from this woman and straight into him to pull away. He felt nothing, at least not at first, then eyes widened and he let out a cry of agony before going completely silent again, listening to the sound of Shaali’s nanites mending the broken bones and realigning his wrist back into place._

“Your nanites shield their patient from the pain while they heal. They do the same when they’re healing you,” Declan explained, smiling at the look of awe on Shaali’s face. “Nanotechnology has been around for many years now, but never has anyone been able to use it the way you do.”

_Shaali felt this surge of happiness flow through her at the mixed reaction from Dylan, the man just staring at her intently. “Thank you. Thank you so much, but how… how did you do that?”_

_“Nanites,” was all she said, gently taking his hand once again and holding it. Dylan only understood why when the nanotech came back out through his skin, this time, returning to where they had come from._

Megan caught a glimpse of Shaali sitting down hard in the nearest seat, staring at the floor. She knelt down in front of her. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Now we know what happened to shut them down, we can work on a way to remove the foreign Nanites and enable yours to reintegrate with you again.” 

“Yes,” Nia said. “Without the false ones in there it should just be a case of allowing time for whatever it is in you DNA to start the process over again.” 

Shaali leaned back in the seat, her attention moving away from each of the other people in the room and looking off into the distance a little. “They really did a ringer on me, didn’t they?” she said. “They’ve managed to take what I can now see is yet another essential part of me.”

“The memories, yes, but never who you truly are, Shaali,” Megan reminded her. “The fact you are feeling things you can’t explain tells us all they would never have succeeded, even after they injected you with enough Nanites to replace your current ones.”

“Yes, and I’d imagine they’d have the same shielding from the natural process of assimilation as these ones keeping yours deactivated and trapped do,” Declan put in. 

“They were going to destroy them completely?” Shaali repeated. “That was the wonderful news Daniel had for me before Adam took him out then.” 

“Yes,” Eric verified, nodding. “As you can imagine, we couldn’t let that happen and… and we’re seeing now even in just this short time you’d still have some connection to who you were subconsciously even after the reprogramming. Eventually, you may have even remembered properly and then been trapped in your own mind, like a puppet,” Eric visibly shuddered. “I’d like to get my hands on the one responsible for coming up with that one.” 

“Wouldn’t we all,” Megan agreed. 

“I’m not sure but…” Shaali sighed. “Look, I’m realizing now I can’t fully speak for something that has a mind of its own but my Nanites might be willing to sacrifice a few so the rest can be free again, and to help me… get better too, I guess.” Dark hair fell over her face as she leant forward, the fingers of her left hand pinching the bridge of her nose. “Man, I don’t know. This is so insane. All these feelings but nothing concrete to go with them.”

Megan placed a hand on her shoulder. “Give us a bit of time to look into it further,” she said. “We’ll examine the scans more closely, see if we can find a way to do it without hurting any of the originals first. If not, we’ll take it from there.”

“I can’t speak for them either,” Declan began, “Yet, from what I’ve seen, they’d do near anything to keep you safe, and if this works, we need to prepare for the ramifications of that. Your nanites can feel, Shaali. Their reaction will be much the same as yours when they learn what’s happened to them and for how long.” 

Shaali caught his gaze, then nodded. “While you look into it, I need to get some fresh air, please.” 

“Of course,” Megan said, looking up at one of the five security cameras set at intervals throughout the room. “Frank, are you there?” 

“Do you even have to ask, Megan,” Pritchard replied. “Shaali, your Infolink,” he reminded her, observing via the feed in his office as she got up and retrieved it from the bedside table.

“Is Adam around to escort her?” Megan asked. 

“No, he’s currently not in the building, and after that incident in his office, I wouldn’t recommend it anyway. Malik is free. I’ll tell her to meet you at the lift, Sha,” he informed her. “Unless you want to be stuck with me for the next however many hours? No, scrap that, I can’t spare the time, I have things to do.” 

“Oh, you’re all heart, Pritchard,” Megan said. 

“I know,” he replied, with a smirk. “No, really, I’d love to,” of course, despite everything, his tone suggested otherwise, “but I am buried in the many mistakes Sarif employees make with their security around here.”

It was odd Shaali didn’t feel offended by his lack of interest in being the one to accompany her. Maybe it was just the vibe she’d gotten from him when she’d first arrived. Perhaps it was something else. Either way, she liked the idea of spending time with her best friend. On the long flight back from Australia Shaali could see why she would’ve been drawn to building up a rapport with someone like Malik. It’d be nice if their first proper encounter outside of that triggered some more genuine memories as well.

The smile was genuine when the lift doors opened, Shaali reciprocating Malik’s nod of greeting, the skilled pilot holding up the bottle of water and energy bar in her hand, “Was just about to take a break when Pritchard’s call came through. Care to join me?” 

“As long as it’s outside somewhere, yes,” Shaali agreed. “I’m getting sick of closed in walls. Although…” and she looked around. “It’s a lot more open down here,” she admitted, with a smirk. 

“We’ll head through to the helipad. Actually, we’ve often had lunch together out there,” Faridah informed her. “When we weren’t off running amok downtown.” 

“So, we were bad girls then?” Sha asked, grinning widely at the look Malik gave her. 

“I wouldn’t say that…” she paused. “Ah, okay, sometimes,” Malik admitted. “Just liked to let our hair down and have some fun. Not too much, though. You often dragged me out kicking and screaming. Not something I was always happy about,” the wink telling Shaali there were no hard feelings. “I’m not one to stop even when I know I should so it was always good having you around… and I just said _was_ , didn’t I?” 

“It’s okay. It kind of is in the past for now. Don’t worry about it,” Shaali assured her, her gaze falling on the fridge in the corner of the lunchroom. “Obviously, I can’t remember, but is there food supplied to us in there, or were we always supposed to bring our own?” 

“One thing you can count on, Sarif doesn’t hold back on making sure we’ve got everything we need to work at the highest proficiency level. Help yourself,” Faridah explained, motioning to it. 

The lunch choices that faced Shaali when she opened the door made her mouth fall open. “Oh man, how am I supposed to choose,” she opted for a chicken, avocado, and salad wrap, grabbing a matching bottle of water to Malik’s own. 

“Shaali?” came the tentative male voice.

Turning around, Shaali managed that smile she’d mastered for all those she did not recognise yet seemed to know who she was very well. “Hi,” she said, the first thing she noticed, the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. 

“Name’s Elias, I won’t hold you up or anything, I just wanted to say it’s such a relief to see you safely back with us,” he said. 

“Me too,” another spoke up. 

“Let’s just say he’s speaking for all of us,” one of the female employees called out from in the hallway, where she was standing with a friend now nodding in agreement. 

“And when she finally remembers, we’re going to have the biggest office party this building has ever seen,” Malik put in, the cheers now following them as they walked outside a clear indication absolutely everyone would be in on that. 

Although the woman in question did have a happy look on her face, there was a distance in her eyes Malik couldn’t miss when she glanced up at her from the bottom of the stairs to the right of the helipad. “Hey, stop that,” she said. 

“Stop what?” 

“Thinking the worst. Memories or no memories, I know that look.” 

“Well, at least that's not gone then,” Shaali said, falling into step beside her where they continued on, walking and now eating at the same time. 

Eventually, they stopped beneath the giant Sarif Industries sign upon the back wall, Evans placing her bottle on top of one of the poles lighting up the secondary helipad, while she finished off her wrap. Her gaze falling on the ladder leading down to the storage area, Shaali just stared at it, lost in her own thoughts. It was Malik’s touch to her arm that brought her back. 

“It’s going to be okay,” she said. 

“Everyone keeps saying that, but what if it isn’t?” Shaali began. “They just found foreign Nanites in my system, and there is every chance some of my original ones are going to have to be sacrificed to get them out. That hurts me deep down but I can’t remember why. Eight months of my life was spent out of it in a room so sterile and empty it was easy to feel like it was never going to get better. Every single person who I was apparently so close to has now been reduced to nothing but a stranger in my mind, and, get this, I just learnt they tried to destroy a technology that I somehow enabled to become sentient. 

I’m clinging to the feelings I get because it’s the only thing I have right now. I look at the familiarity you have towards me in your eyes, Malik and I get nothing… nothing at all. I feel so lost in the place I’m supposed to be the most at home and there is something wrong with the very person who saved me from being reprogrammed and lost forever, but I’m still in no state to help him in the way he helped me,” she stopped then, turning and busying herself with opening up her bottle. “And I don’t understand why everyone is so hesitant to tell me more about who I am, who Adam is, who you are… why is everyone being so cautious around me?”

Malik would have answered that but Shaali went on, “I need to know. I have to know. I can’t handle being this confused all the time. My whole entire life is just… gone.” 

This time, when Faridah touched her arm, she squeezed it tightly to get her attention, “Except, you remembered David, Shaali. Maybe not everything about him yet, but it’s there and, even if…” she hesitated. “Even if some parts of your memory are gone, friendships can be built back up. We’ll make it work again, Shaali, I promise.” 

“Friendships, yes, Malik,” Sha said. “But not maternal bonds. I can’t even remember my mother,” the tears started to fall from eyes trying so hard to hold them back. “I’m sorry, I guess it’s all hitting me now.” 

Malik moved in closer, putting a comforting hand on the small of her back, “We shouldn’t promise you it’ll all be all right, I know that. We have to stay positive, though. We didn’t lose hope in finding you, we’re not about to do so in hoping your memory is restored too.”

“Mum didn’t tell me why Adam lost it like he did. Can you?” 

That question hit Malik for a six, under the same orders as Jensen not to tell her anything that could end up tipping the scales of an already emotional imbalance. She decided there was one angle she could approach it from, however, “As your partner, Jensen blamed himself for your disappearance. He’d now be doing the same about everything that happened to you while you were gone too.” 

Shaali stared at the bottle in her hand, letting out a sigh. “He shouldn’t be. From what I can tell there’s nothing he could’ve done anyway.” 

“Yeah, and we tried telling him that. He’s as stubborn as they come, that one,” Malik agreed, hoping there was no more prodding.

Shaali wiped at the tears, letting out a small laugh. “Maybe some part of me remembers you’re my best friend after all. Aren’t we supposed to spill our emotions and cry on each other’s shoulders or something?” 

Faridah smiled. “Believe me, we’ve done that many times,” the relief flooding through her. “Come on, if you have anything else you need to get out, now’s the time to do it.” 

“Megan and her team are up there trying to figure out whether they can remove the invaders without doing any other damage. They’re all clustered around here,” and she pointed to her heart. “Nia thinks they were tricked into thinking I was going to have a heart attack. That’s how they managed to shut them down all at once.”

“I’m just going to say it now, when it’s time to go deal with these people, I’m not staying in the VTOL,” Malik warned.

“You want to go kick their asses together?”

“You bet I do,” Malik replied, the two women looking at each other for a few seconds before dissolving into laughter. “See, that’s the sound I like to hear from you,” Faridah exclaimed, giving her a sideways hug. 

“Thanks, Malik,” Shaali said, catching her breath and finally taking a mouthful of her drink. “I can see now why we’re friends.” 

“I hate to interrupt the two of you,” Pritchard announced via their Infolinks, “But Megan is ready for you now, Sha.” 

“That was quick.”

“Don’t ask me, I’m just the messenger. Patching her through.” 

“Shaali, we’d like to go in now and take a closer look. If it’s possible we can then try to take them out directly,” Megan informed her.

“You have my permission to do whatever it takes. Just get it done already.”


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Augmented fingers gently clasped the long strands of black hair that had fallen over Shaali’s face, carefully moving them until gravity took over and they slid away onto the dark purple sheets of the bed. Ever since the procedure to save his life Adam had always felt his touch was cold, lifeless, something to be shied away from, not leaned into and caressed. Shaali didn’t see it that way. She didn’t care that his hands weren’t real. To the woman, now lying unconscious and recovering in the special wing that had been made just for her, Jensen’s augmentations were an outward extension of who he was. Flesh or machine, she loved all of him, and always would. 

From the other side of the bed, Nicole watched him closely. She had been in Sarif’s office when Megan had informed him the operation was about to take place and one of the first things the CEO had done was pass that information on to Jensen. She couldn’t hear the entire conversation but had exchanged a small smirk when the older man had firmly told Adam to stop wallowing and come be there for the woman he cared about. A few notable glances had been exchanged the moment he’d walked through the doors, Shaali awake at the time. Nicky knew by the combination of a bright smile and the look of concern in her daughter’s eyes trying to keep him away would have only done more harm than good. 

“How long is this going to take, Megan?” Jensen asked. 

“Adam, I don’t know,” she answered. “We’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. The hostile nanites are gone…” 

“Yes, and after further examinations, will be destroyed with a great amount of prejudice, I might add,” Declan interrupted then. 

Megan nodded. “We just don’t know how this is going to affect her. Time is needed. She may be completely fine when she wakes up, she may not. I’m sorry, Adam.”

“If you can’t handle the possibility she still won’t remember when she opens her eyes, you need to leave now,” Nicky spoke up, seeing the look on his face change slightly. 

“I’m fine,” was his immediate reply. “I get it. I’m not going anywhere.”

“It’s been a long afternoon, Adam, you should go get some rest,” Megan said. 

“Speak for yourself, Megan,” Jensen answered, motioning to the yawn the young doctor was now doing at the mere mention of sleep. 

“No. No, I have to stay awake to help monitor her.”

“None of you are any good to Shaali if you can’t keep your eyes open,” David told them. “Go, rest, we have monitoring systems set up all around this place.” 

Megan and her team had worked for six straight hours meticulously removing each individual foreign nanite, so careful not to lose any of Shaali’s original ones in the process. Those present and watching, Adam, Nicky, David, and Faridah, plus Pritchard, from the Tech Lab via the security feed, had seen the struggle in about the fourth hour. Determination won out, however, none of them giving up until there wasn’t a trace of the invaders anywhere in her system. Jensen knew what the dark rings under Megan’s eyes indicated. They all had them, and he’d spotted Declan look around rather embarrassed hoping no one had seen him fall asleep, nearly keeling over where he was standing.

“Look, we’re all tired,” Malik spoke up. “But I’m staying, and I think I can speak for Jensen and Nicky too, and Pritchard has it covered via the cameras. So, everyone else, go sleep. We’ve got this.” 

“Alright, thank you, but if anything changes…” Megan began. 

“You’ll be the first to know. Now go, and thank you all so much for what you’ve done,” Shaali’s Mum said, the appreciation clear on her face as she watched the group walk out. 

David shook his head. “No,” he said as Malik went to say something to him. “She already knows who I am. If she doesn’t remember straight away, and I highly doubt she will, it’ll be somewhat of a comfort at seeing me here.” 

“He’s got a point,” Adam agreed.

Sarif disappeared into the kitchenette, returning with one of the stools and placing it near the wall just behind Nicky. Sitting down, he turned his head, effectively watching Shaali’s sleeping face over her Mum’s shoulder. “This has got to work,” he said, softly.

“Hey Pritchard, any chance you can bring us some food?” Malik called, looking straight at one of the cameras. 

“I’m not your personal delivery boy, Malik,” Frank replied. 

“Just pick up the phone and order in. Think you manage that?” Faridah asked, with a smirk. 

Pritchard sighed. “Alright, but just this once,” he said.

“Don’t forget the drinks,” she urged, grinning. “Damn girl, if only you were awake and remembering how much fun this is,” she said, leaning over and touching Shaali’s arm. “We have some serious teasing of Pritchard to catch up on.”

Despite the look in his eyes, Adam smiled. 

Shaali couldn’t be sure if she was really hearing voices on and off over the next three hours or if it was just her subconscious doing that thing it always does, mixing reality with fantasy as it sorted things out. At one stage she thought she was dreaming, only to start stirring awake, look around at people she knew were there then fall straight back asleep even as she was trying to figure out exactly who they were. What a weird experience, a bit like her drug-addled state back at the fake facility. Only thing was, each time she stirred she felt her head getting clearer and clearer until finally she opened her eyes and was able to focus properly, catching sight of Adam leaning back in the chair right beside her. 

Still nothing. 

“Dammit,” she whispered, heard by the only one of them still awake at this point. 

“Shaali,” Nicky said, her hand immediately clasping hers. “How are you feeling?” 

It was interesting her Mum’s first question wasn’t if she remembered anything. Visibly upset, Shaali looked at her, already aware there was no recollection there either by the fact she didn’t react to her voice the way a daughter should. “There’s nothing…” she said, with an edge that suggested she was getting beyond fed up with this. 

“It’s only been three and a half hours since the operation, Sha,” her Mum said. “You have to give yourself time.”

“How much more time?” she almost hissed, hearing Jensen stir at the anger in her tone. “Eight months! I’m over this!” 

“Calm down, baby girl,” Nicole said, clasping her hand tighter. 

Shaali felt like yanking it away. She didn’t. Her Mum was only trying to help. Although Megan had warned her otherwise, she’d held on to the hope everything about her life would be there the moment she woke up. That all those confused feelings she’d been experiencing would’ve fallen back into place. Now it was clear it hadn’t happened, she couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Why?!” she cried. “Why did they have to do this to me?!” 

This time, Jensen ignored everything he’d been told and instantly stood up, leaning over to pull her up slightly into his arms. At the mere touch of comfort, Shaali felt the anger dissipate into a swirl of tears. Four of the people that cared for her the most just stood around the bed, listening to the muffled cries against the chest of the one person who may not have been there if it wasn’t for the warning her mother had given him. He caught Nicky’s gaze, a silent thank you given, even while his heart broke at the sound of the woman he loved in so much emotional pain. 

“Shaali, it’s okay,” Malik said, rubbing her arm soothingly.

“I wi… wish people would stop saying that! No, it’s not,” she answered in-between sobs. “I want… want my life back! I want it back NOW!” She felt the palm of Jensen’s hand move to rest on her left cheek, and for some reason, it helped to stop the stronger reaction from erupting fully. Her forehead still against his chest, she said softly, “All of you obviously care about me so much and I can’t… I can’t return those feelings, not the way I know you want me to.” 

“You need to stop worrying about that, Sha. We understand,” her Mum said. “Please, I know it’s hard, but give it time.”

With a gentle pull, Shaali signalled to her Mum to please let go of her hand. The older woman complied, watching her daughter reach up and clasp Adam’s wrist, “I appreciate this from all of you,” she said. “But please, again, I need to be left alone.” 

As much as he didn’t want to, Jensen stepped back, and as he did Shaali loosened her grip so his hand slid into hers, where she grabbed it again and looked him straight in the eye. “You especially. I need to remember you,” was all she said, letting go and laying back down. 

Those words nearly made him just tell her everything right then and there, it taking all his sheer strength of will not to further upset her to stop him. Maybe the touch had triggered something subliminally. All Adam could do was hope.

“You shouldn’t be on your own now, honey?” Nicky said. 

“What if something happens?” Faridah put in. 

Green eyes, very red from crying, moved to look at each of them in turn. “And all of you need to sleep,” she said so bluntly it was actually hard not to laugh. “Have you looked at yourselves in a mirror lately?”

Malik did end up letting out a chuckle. “No, but I can just imagine,” she said, lifting a hand to run through her hair. “Better?” 

“No,” Shaali hesitated none in telling her. 

“Oh, well, thanks,” the pilot said, mock offended. 

“We’ll go,” Adam said, deciding it all for them. 

Shaali waved to the camera then, “You too, Pritchard,” she said. “Get some sleep.” 

“You know I don’t sleep, Shaali,” Frank’s voice came over the intercom. “One of us has to keep an eye on you.” 

“Then turn off the audio, at least,” she said, plumping the pillows behind her and sitting back against them. 

The moment the doors slid shut and she was by herself again, distant eyes stared at the floor, tearing up around the edges before she really knew what was going on. Pushing back the covers and bringing her legs around, she opened the top drawer of the side table and pulled out her brush, the tears streaming down her cheeks and landing on the soft material of the navy blue slacks she’d been wearing before the operation. Running the brush through black hair long and flowing, she paused every so often to wipe them away, at some point reaching for a tissue as well. It was like she was working on mere rote, going through the motions of freshening up but not really altogether present in what she was doing. 

Then she stopped, just staring at the purple and black pattern of yet another personal item that had been bought up by her Mum, the painful sobs starting deep in her chest and rising until she couldn’t contain them anymore. Leaving the brush on the bed and placing a hand over her mouth, she swiftly moved into the bathroom, the only place in the whole area that would provide her with true privacy. 

She’d cried after learning the truth about a facility Adam and the others had left her in for longer than they’d known she was there. She’d just sobbed into the arms of a man who’d held her without hesitation, in front of people who’d not once left her side the entire afternoon and into the night. Now, after flicking the lock on the door, she fell to her knees in the middle of the floor and let it all out, mourning the loss of a life she couldn’t help but feel was never going to return. 

Eventually, it physically hurt too much to keep it going, eyes now so red and dry there was literally no more tears left to cry. A numbness falling over her, Shaali pulled the hand towel off the small rack on the side of the sink and wiped her face. Standing up, she looked at herself in the mirror, taking in the tell-tale signs of such strong emotion that could see her spiral down so far she’d never be able to find her way back. The faces of those who cared about her played over in her head; their reassurances they were there no matter what giving her a strength she so badly needed to hold on to. Starting again didn’t appeal to her one little bit. If it came to that, however… 

Shaali sighed, walking over to the shower and turning it on. 

Twenty minutes later she was in the kitchen preparing a couple of toasted sandwiches, sipping at the coffee she’d already made and scrolling through the latest happenings in the newspaper on the counter. It was her way of forgetting about everything, to enable her to function without losing herself to the constant reminder in the back of her mind, the one persistently pushing to get in. She focused on the positive news pieces, far and in-between it seemed as too much attention was now on what should be done about people with augmentations. She frowned at the usage of the words ‘their kind’, shaking her head at how the media was making it sound like every single one of them were terrorists. 

Taking another sip of her coffee, Sha scrolled down a little further before retrieving her food, wiping down the sandwich press, and balancing the plate on top of her coffee cup to make it easier to carry both one-handed. _Now I suddenly wish I hadn’t told Adam to leave. Could’ve asked him if he was okay,_ she thought, picking up the digital device and tucking it under her arm, careful to keep it steady as she moved out of the kitchen. 

Thoroughly enjoying the first few bites, she looked around, gaze falling on the T.V. remote, making the decision to see if there was any news to watch rather than continuing to read it on such a small screen in comparison. Placing what she had down on the chest of drawers, she went back to grab a dessert from the fridge, making sure she had everything she needed before getting comfortable. With a nod of satisfaction, she pressed the button that signalled the panel in the wall opposite the end of her bed to open, revealing the large screen behind it. Flicking through a few channels it didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for, not counting on there being a debate right in the middle of it…

“These people need to be registered with exactly what they are capable of, that list available to the public for their safety!”

“Their safety?! They were hacked! It’s not their fault this happened.”

_Hacked?_ Shaali thought, eyes widening.

“Over 50 million people died that day, Wayne, someone has to pay for that.”

“By someone you mean those like me,” Wayne said, emphasising his point by holding up his prosthetic arm.

The other man sighed, “I make no apologies in feeling something needs to be done to protect those of us who have no chance against these unnatural enhancements.”

“Lose your arm, Greg, your leg… your hand… your eyesight in some random accident. Walk across the street tomorrow and get hit by a car out of the blue and the only way you can survive is by agreeing to the Sentinel heart transplant, _then_ come back to me and say that,” Wayne said, his voice lowering, the edge still very distinct. “You can’t sit there and tell us to relinquish what has replaced the very thing we’ve lost. We’re human regardless of the augmentations we have.”

Shaali leaned her head to the side, eyes wide and staring. 50 million people dead? What in the world had happened? Come to think of it… 

“Oh no, no,” she whispered to herself. “I didn’t kill anyone, did I? What about Adam?” With a knot of dread forming in her stomach, she tuned back into what the two men were saying. 

“Like I said, I feel for those who genuinely need them, but this idea that someone can hack your implants and turn you into some sort of killing machine on a grand scale is enough evidence in itself that something needs to be done. Have you even thought about how normal people felt during that time… young, old, male, female, no one was safe. People were beaten to death, Wayne. Hacked to pieces by their loved ones!” 

“Who had no control because the damn founder of augmentations in the first place, Hugh Darrow, was trying to make a point! Seems it worked, since now we’re facing the complete reversal to the welcoming of such innovation in the past. And, of course, I’ve thought about it. Do you really think those of us this happened to didn’t feel any regret? Didn’t actually care we’d done such an unthinkable thing?”

“Who did you kill, Wayne?” Greg asked. 

“Damn you, Greg! That’s not the point of this discussion.” 

“Yes, it is. Here…” he answered, and the screen behind them changed to a tribute of sorts to those who had fallen, intermingled with the live news reports at the time. 

That knot turned into full blown broiling emotion, tears she didn’t realize she had left streaming down her face, the news reports showing what Greg had mentioned in all its graphic glory. At this time of night nothing was censored, the attacks and terror that ensued so intense, Shaali felt this need to jump into the event and stop what was happening. She couldn’t handle it anymore, letting out her shock in the form of a moan and covering her face. She was unable to block out the sounds though and after a few more moments of listening to the fear coming from both sides, she reached for the remote to turn it off…

“You see that Wayne, that wouldn’t have happened if people didn’t become so obsessed with playing God!” 

“Playing… what the hell are you talking about?” Wayne answered, clearly just as uncomfortable with a replay of the events. “You invited me here to talk about this, not rub it in my face!” 

“If I had my way the lot of you would be put…” at that point the pain hit Shaali so hard and so fast she quite literally fell off the bed. 

Her left hand clutching the side of her head and instinctively curling up into a foetal position on the floor, Sha soon realized the images playing weren’t from what she’d seen, but what she had actually experienced, the man chasing the child up the hallway someone she’d known personally. She remembered grabbing him and yanking him away, yelling at the kid, Sarah, to hide in her apartment. Sarah trusted her, so she did. She’d held her father at bay, seeing the look of utter confusion in his eyes, and listening to him beg her to keep the monster safe because he knew it wasn’t real but couldn’t stop listening to the voices telling him otherwise. It swapped from that memory to another one, and another, and another playing so rapidly the mind of the young woman couldn’t keep up. The only thing she could hold on to was that she had not been affected in the same way, and being able to use her nanites to heal, she’d tried so desperately to help. 

The shock of the returning memories seemed to trigger something else, Shaali not understanding this newly added discomfort was similar to that which she’d experienced some time after David and Megan had first introduced the nanites into her system. Back then, though, they were just machines, yet to learn, yet to feel. This time, somehow reactivated by the adrenaline coursing through her, Shaali’s _sentient_ AI was back, with all the experience, emotions and freedom she had given them.

Shock. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Guilt.

Panic.

She felt it all yet knew it wasn’t her actually experiencing it, her nanotech racing through her bloodstream to begin the process of protecting her again. A tightening in her chest as they repaired her heart and the areas around it; an aching, like tiny little fire ants crawling through every part of her body, finding and destroying anything that wasn’t supposed to be there, and when they hit her brain, there was no holding it back, the scream echoing through the entire room. Gritting her teeth, she rolled over, grabbing the bedspread and pulling herself up until she could reach where she left the Infolink on the side table. Her knees struggling to hold her upright, she let the top half of her body fall forwards on the bed, laying her head down as she pressed the button to activate the comms device. 

“Pritchard, help,” her voice soft, raspy and desperate. 

Frank’s eyes widened, immediately pushing back from his personal space and focusing on the middle of the three larger computers atop the desk taking up almost the entire side wall. With a quick touch, the security feed loop updated, allowing him to see almost everything in the room.

“Sha, I’m here, what’s going on?” 

“Memories. So many died… what happened? Why is it hurting so much?” 

“Who died? What’s hurting? Shaali?” Pritchard’s words trailed off, the tech enhancing the television to see what she’d been watching. “Oh no, Sha, not that,” he said, immediately getting up. 

“Something else is happening…” she let out of cry of agony. “I can’t… I can’t handle it.” 

Frank felt his heart jump into his throat as he headed out of the Tech Lab. “Hang on, Sha. I’m coming,” he assured her. “Just hold on.” 

“I don’t think I can, Pritchard,” she said, softly, the fear in her voice palpable. “I couldn’t help them… I watched some die while I saved others. I couldn’t help them.”

“Just listen to me,” Frank said, stepping into the lift and pressing the button for the penthouse floor. “You risked your own safety to do everything you could, Shaali. It’s not your fault.” 

“So much pain,” she grimaced. “My head… my heart… it's inside. Emotion… so much emotion and not all of it is mine!” 

If he wasn’t so worried about how the memories were affecting her, Pritchard would have smiled because he knew exactly what that meant. “Shaali, it’s okay. I know it hurts, but your nanites, this must have helped to reactivate them. They’re reintegrating with you.” 

“This is what that feels like?” her tone full of disbelief. “I thought Declan said they protect me from the pain as they heal?”

“Reintegration is different, and they were deactivated after becoming sentient. No one really knew how they’d react,” Frank explained, walking through the doors of the lift even before they were fully open. “I’m almost there, just give me a second.” 

There was great comfort in knowing she wasn’t going to be alone for much longer, Shaali closing her eyes in an effort to shut out the recollections of the most horrible event she had ever endured. How had she communicated with her nanites before? How did she tell them this was all too much? Did she talk to them openly or was it all conveyed via thoughts and feelings, like the one she was experiencing now? An overwhelming reassurance that everything was going to be okay. 

_We’re here, Shaali. Let us help you. Go to sleep._

Sha’s eyes fluttered open briefly, the realization hitting her just how much she trusted her tech. “Bring them back to me,” she whispered, falling into a deep unconsciousness only after she heard Frank walk into the room.


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

Green eyes shot open, Shaali staring up at the ceiling, the smile an outward expression of the relief and excitement flooding through her. No longer was she Patient 216-34, a person certain scientists had tried to obliterate into a blank slate so they could to start again. No, her memory was back. She was back. Shaali Elizabeth Evans, the first successful attempt by Sarif Industries to integrate Nanotechnology into flesh. Lifting her left arm to take a look, the smile widened into a grin. They played over her skin, liquid-like and solid all at the same time. Flowing forwards, flipping back, forming diamond patterns, remaining still. 

With all foreign elements cleared from the body, the majority of Shaali’s nanites had split up, rising through the pores of her skin to protect her from the outside. The only witness to this at the time, Frank, who had somehow managed to get Sha up onto the bed properly by himself. He’d stood by her side debating whether to inform everyone else about what was going on, eyes widening a little at the sight of the Nano shield forming. A defence he’d often seen his friend use, albeit mostly in practice sessions back in the lab. 

Having watched for a while, a glint of awe in his eyes, Pritchard had eventually lifted his hand to test his hypothesis, their reaction exactly what he had been expecting. Where he had been about to touch her, the nanites began to backtrack over each other, strengthening the barrier and just waiting for him to dare to continue. It mattered none they knew who Frank was. Right now, with their Symbiont so vulnerable, no one was getting anywhere near her.

He’d stayed for a further half an hour or so after that, unable to pull his attention away from just how seamless the connection really was. Until an alarm had gone off in his personal Infolink warning him there was a serious breach in one of the many computers in the facility he needed to attend to. With a roll of his eyes, he’d left the recovery wing staring down at the portable device in his hands, mumbling something about how useless everyone was and without him, Sarif Industries would fall apart.

Sitting up and glancing around, Shaali noted she was once again alone, expecting to see one other person in the room at least. “Ok, where’d he go? You scared him off, didn’t you?” Shaali mock accused, her tech conveying the feeling of no regret. “Oh man, just look at you!” she exclaimed, getting off the bed and watching the sentient patterns on her arm. “I can’t believe this. I can’t…” she was so thrilled she could barely speak. If it was possible to hug her nanites she would have, the mutual feeling passed via a bond only they possessed.

Everything had returned. All of it, and after a few more moments of observation, her tech started to lower back into her body even before she’d finished asking them. Glancing up at the door, there was this feeling in her stomach, an eagerness so deep it all bar consumed her. She needed to see so many people right now, yet only one name came to mind… 

“Adam,” she said softly, lowering her arm and heading out of the room. 

The security checkpoint took way too long, Shaali standing there telling it to hurry up already. When the clear barrier finally slid aside and the door opened to reveal the lobby beyond, she was all bar running out of the room.

“Shaali?” Athene called, immediately standing up. “Is everything all right?” 

Sha turned, her eyes shining. “I understand now why no one told me who he was,” she said. 

Athene's baffled reaction lasted all of three seconds, the older woman's face lighting up as the realization hit her. "Oh my goodness, Shaali!" she cried, pausing in all attempts to get out from behind the desk when she noticed parts if her friend were starting to disappear.

Lifting her forefinger to her mouth, Shaali urged the long-time secretary not to reveal anything to anyone… not yet. Athene nodded her understanding, the healer gone from the visual spectrum altogether by the time she entered the lift.

With the doors opening again on the third floor, the invisible figure stepped out, tapping into the Infolink she now remembered a certain technical genius had programmed into her nanites. “Francis, are you there?”

“Okay, so that answers that question then,” he answered, seconds later. 

“What question?” 

“As to whether all your memories were back yet. I really wish you wouldn’t call me that, Sha.” 

“Admit it, you’ve missed me.” 

“No, I haven’t,” he said, smirking.

Shaali grinned, shaking her head. “I want to come see you, and David, Mum, Faridah… so many, but you know who it is I need to find first…”

“Jensen.”

Shaali nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. “Do you know where he is?”

“I’m not his babysitter, Sha, but I do know he ended up going back to his apartment last night.” 

“When he gets in, tell him to head to his office, please.” 

Frank rolled his eyes. “Will do,” he said, it clear she owed him one.

“Pritchard,” Shaali began, her tone changing. “Thank you for helping me last night.” 

Leaning forward a little, Frank smiled. “Don’t expect it again anytime soon. Oh, and welcome back, Shaali.”

* * *

"Can't this wait, Pritchard," Adam said, pushing the door to his office open. “I was going to head up to see Shaali first.” 

“No, it can’t wait, Jensen. This is what you get for trashing your workspace. I’m going to run a few tests and I need you to tell me if the security is working properly on the newly installed terminal.” 

Adam sighed. He really did hate it when Frank made a point he couldn’t deny. Although a new desk had been installed and the computers had already been replaced, evidence of his complete loss of control could still be seen all over the place. The indent in the wall where the filing cabinet had once stood; the damage above the couch. He’d been fortunate the metal drawers hadn’t hit the glass, although it was doubtful it would have done any real damage to the reinforcing at all. 

“Alright, I’m here. What do you want me to do?” 

“Sit down and get comfortable. It’s going to take a while.” 

_Pritchard, you are **more** than a technical genius,_ Shaali thought, watching incognito from over near the window. 

This time, the moment she’d heard Adam’s voice something inside her had clenched, almost ached, with all the affection she now remembered she had for this person. Only now did she understand why he held back from returning the embrace the other night; why there was this hesitation every time he’d been around her. They’d met under circumstances no one should ever have had to endure; after events that’d occurred to them individually neither of them had had a chance to really get over. She was the Nanotech compatible version of his primarily mechanical acceptance. Naturally, after the initial hesitation and hostility, a sort of protective instinct had built up between them. 

With it now her turn to hide in plain sight, she found herself not wishing to rush over to reveal to him she was back, but simply observing. Taking in the man who sent her heart racing and every part of her lighting up with a yearning she’d never be able to explain.

“Okay Pritchard, what am I supposed to be looking for?” Adam asked, eyes on the screen. “Come on, Francis, get this started already.” 

“Just a few more moments…” 

Instinct told him to jump up and push hard, sending whoever it was behind him flying back into the wall. The feel of her burying her face into his neck from the left side. The touch of her hand upon his. The sight of what he couldn’t see turning a liquid black before flowing down to reveal the flesh beneath. It quashed all that because Jensen’s heart quite literally stopped. For about as long as it took his Sentinel Health system to kick in, forcing him to breathe. Augmented fingers interlocked with those of the only person he knew this could be. 

“Tell me I’m not dreaming, Shaali,” his voice hopeful and soft.

Liquid black was caught sight of again, Shaali’s nanites playing over her fingers for a few more moments before some of them split off and headed into his. They relayed their reassurance via his systems at the same time his girlfriend whispered, “No, it’s not a dream. I love you, Adam.” 

There was this sound, a low cry of relief from the man beside her, Shaali feeling his shoulders relax in a way he just couldn’t allow himself to before. At the lifting of her arm, she let him guide it away from the desk, Adam turning to face her. Yellow-green eyes finding hers, the lenses lit up, counterturning as he took the time to search them for the verification he needed. The blank look was gone. The lack of recognition was no longer present. All he could see was what he had been missing for the past almost eight months, the emotion she held only for him.

Love.

Hand clasping hers even tighter, bringing it in close until he felt her follow his lead and place it on the side of his face, Jensen leant forward, resting his forehead on her stomach, in that one motion telling her how much this really meant to him. Shaali stayed silent, gently slipping her hand around behind his neck, a small amount of pressure given for comfort. It tugged at her heart to see his reaction. Where she hadn’t remembered him all this time, he had. He’d lived through the months without her; through the pain of trying to find her, no doubt falling as he thought about the possibility he may never see her again. 

Tears welled at the corner of her eyes, Shaali kneeling down and looking straight at him, her fingers caressing his cheek. “Adam, it’s okay, I’m here.”

He wasn’t entirely sure why it was he couldn’t say anything. He’d been hoping for this day for so long, convinced himself it wasn’t coming, and now it _was_ here he really didn’t know what to do. Various thoughts ran through his head all at once and he couldn’t decide which one of them he wanted to act on first. Then there was still the belief he was currently in one of his drunken stupors and this was nothing more than a dream he was about to wake up from. 

Until her lips found his and he was drawn into a kiss so passionate it could never have been anything other than real. 

In one fluid movement, he slipped his arm around the small of her back, pulling her in close and forcing her to stand up with him. He let out a welcoming sigh at the same pressure of her hand put on the back of his neck again, only adding to a fire now encompassing his entire body. This woman was everything to him, the thoughts of where he really wanted to see this moment lead flashing through his mind. 

Time was irrelevant. It mattered not how long it’d been before she was gently pulling back and looking at him with that smile he’d come to love so much. 

“Not here,” she said, a hint of cheekiness in the inflection. 

“I know,” he responded, smirking. 

“I hate how I can’t hold you properly,” she whispered, glancing at where her prosthesis should’ve been. “Have to see David about that and soon.” 

Jensen’s demeanour changed slightly. “I’m wondering if that is really a good idea, Shaali,” he said, as they parted a little. 

“Why is that?” 

“A lot has changed while you’ve been gone. The hostility towards those with augmentations is building. Without it, you’d be safe,” he explained.

“Because otherwise, they’d never be able to tell, right?” 

“Yes. I couldn’t protect you before, Shaali. This… this could be a way to make sure you’re never a target again for whatever reason. You have this kindness in you that is not going to handle what’s happening out there now.” 

She came in closer to him again, “If you think I’m going to hide who I am while I watch you get persecuted for a choice that was never yours then you really don’t know me very well,” she said, the sincerity clear. 

“You don’t understand, Sha,” Adam continued. “The hatred is building so quickly out there it won’t be long before companies like Sarif Industries start to feel the backlash. People are panicking, stocking up on Neuropozyne, which is causing a shortage, the very thing they’re afraid of. If they find out your nanites have the ability to reverse their need for that all together they won't stop hunting you.” 

“Let them come,” Shaali said. “Let them try. I am not going to think only of myself when I have the ability to alleviate at least some of the suffering out there. You know how much being a healer means to me. You can’t ask me to do this, Adam.”

 

Jensen lifted his hand to place on her cheek, catching a gaze so adamant he knew there’d be no way she wouldn’t be going through the process of replacing her arm very soon. A smile curled the corner of his lips. “You really are back, aren’t you?” he stated. “I just don’t want to see you used, Shaali, not again.” 

She leaned into that touch, kissing metal fingers as he ran them over her lips. “I will just have to use my abilities more discreetly from now on. I do have a cloak for those purposes, remember. We both do,” she said, a glint in her eyes. 

Adam chuckled. “And I look forward to using it in sync with you again,” he added, with a wink, leaning in to kiss her. 

“We’ve already had to replace most of the office,” Frank’s voice suddenly spoke up via their Infolinks. “I’m not touching the couch.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out what he meant by that, Jensen’s face hardening a little, while Shaali just laughed. “Damnit Pritchard, timing!” Adam said. 

“You know I’ve never been really good with that, Jensen. Besides, someone needed to remind you both there are others in this building yet to learn a certain person’s memory has returned.” 

“The fact you are already aware irritates the hell out of me. Then I remember it was your job to keep an eye on here in the first place,” Adam told him. 

“Why, yes, it was, Jensen. Thank you for pointing that out,” Frank said, sarcasm dripping. “I couldn’t care less if it bothered you anyway. I wasn’t about to stop and contact you first when your girlfriend was in trouble.” 

“Hey you two, not now,” Shaali interrupted then, frowning. “Have you told anyone else yet?” 

“Of course not. It’s not up to me,” Frank replied.

“Good, I’m going to have a little fun with this. Is my Mum here yet?” 

“No.” 

“Then, where’s Malik?” 

“Where she almost always is, attending to the maintenance of the VTOL. Although I think she might’ve just headed for the back storage room,” Frank informed her. He had to admit, this was going to be interesting.

“Keep your mouth shut, Francis, okay?” Shaali told him. 

“Stop calling me Francis, and I might,” Pritchard replied, knowing full well that wasn’t about to happen. 

Shaali reached for Adam’s hand, “Come on,” she said, pausing in her attempts to head out of the office when she noticed he wasn’t budging. Turning her head, she raised an eyebrow in question.

He pulled her in flush against him, reaching up to clasp both sides of her face where another lingering kiss was given. His mere touch enough, Shaali forgot about everything else, unable to resist while it lasted. Close enough to see every minute detail of the augmentations in his eyes, his next words caught her completely off guard. 

“I love you too, Shaali.” 

She just about melted into him, savouring the feeling of an embrace that was holding back absolutely nothing this time. “I could stay here forever, you know that, but I have to tell everyone else…” 

Adam nodded. “Yeah, I get that. I’m just not ready to share you yet.” 

Shaali smiled. “The time for us to truly be alone will come, Adam, I promise,” she said, her nanites briefly seen before she quite literally started to vanish in his arms.

“It better,” he answered, stepping back and activating an electromagnetic spectrum uniquely his, Shaali then appearing highlighted in the usual yellow, with the addition of Adam now able to see beyond the outer liquid black to the nanites flowing within.

Oh, how he had missed this! 

Thrown back to tracking her through the mission they’d been on together in the past as he followed her out to the helipad. With Shaali’s full focus on deciding how she was going to reveal herself to Malik, it gave Jensen some time to allow what had just transpired to sink in. His partner, the one person he trusted with everything and _all of him_ , finally remembered who he was. He’d never be able to explain how exactly that was making him feel. 

This sensation of utter happiness was very foreign to a man whose life had been filled with so much tragedy and pain. There would always be that fear threatening to overtake him; a constant nagging in the back of his mind that it was all too good to be true.

“Hey Jensen,” Faridah greeted, catching sight of Adam above as she was about to head up the ladder and out of the storage area. “What’s up?” 

“Nothing. I’m heading up to see Shaali if you’re free?”

“Actually, yes, I could use the distraction. Having trouble fixing something and it’s driving me mad. I can get back to it later. Just let me clean up first,” she informed him. 

“Yeah, sure.”

Adam watched Malik use the tap against the wall to their right to wash her hands, the VTOL pilot completely unaware Shaali had followed and was now standing right beside her, grinning from ear to ear. Hiding behind a façade of no emotion was getting more difficult by the moment, especially considering his girlfriend was now waving at her best friend. Adam stifled a chuckle and then cleared his throat when Faridah finished up and looked at him. 

“You all right?” she asked. 

“Yeah, fine,” he said, falling into step beside her on their way back to the lunchroom. 

“I wonder if anything else has returned yet. I know she’s my friend no matter what, but I just want something… you know?” 

“You’re preaching to the choir here, Malik,” Jensen replied.

Faridah just nodded, pausing when she finally realized Jensen had stopped for some reason. Glancing back at him, Malik was about to ask what was going on when she caught sight of Shaali’s nanites beginning to flip over, a process if slowed down, looking like thousands of tiny pixels coming back into focus. The pilot’s mouth fell open, and for what felt like the longest 10 seconds in history she just stood there, staring. Shaali grinned wide, briefly glancing at Adam before the sudden squeal of delight left Malik’s mouth and she was almost launching herself at her best friend to give her a hug.

“Oh my… you little… Shaali!” she cried. “What? When? Come on girl, spill,” she demanded, looking her in the eye. 

Jensen shook his head, rubbing at his left ear a little. How excited these two sometimes got when they were together… that was going to take some getting used to again. 

“Oh, this is wonderful!” Malik cried, holding her friend tightly. “Come on, tell me what happened?”

“I can fill you in on that,” an impatient sounding Pritchard called down from the top of the stairs.

Shaali’s eyes lit up again, “Pritchard!” she exclaimed, a quick squeeze of Malik’s hand given before she rushed up to engulf him in a half embrace. 

“Urgh! No, just…” Frank did concede, however, such a thing more than acceptable under these extraordinary circumstances. “Yeah, yeah, I’m glad you’ve remembered too, Shaali. Now, can you please let go of me.” 

“Nope,” Sha answered, laughing softly. “Extended hug for the man who helped me last night.” 

Pritchard rolled his eyes. “I’ve never met anyone so insistent on being so affectionate with everyone. Get off.” 

Despite his words, there was no action to follow them up, so Evans remained there on the receiving end of a rather awkward return of relief for a little while longer before stepping back and just grinning at him. “See, wasn’t so bad, was it?” 

“Don’t get me started,” Pritchard replied, eyes narrowed a little. 

“Aw, poor Francis,” Shaali said, holding up her hands and moving further away when he caught her gaze. “What? You didn’t see that coming?” 

“Back for a couple of hours and already I’m starting to hate you,” Frank stated. 

“Everyone knows you could never truly hate me, Pritchard,” Shaali said. “I’m your tech buddy, the liquidNaNoblack to your nucl3arsnake.” 

“You really should change that email address, Shaali,” Frank said. “I assume you remember what you were watching last night?” 

The happiness withdrew from her features a little, “Of course I do. That’s not something…” her words trailed off. “Really, Pritchard, you had to bring that up now?” 

“My job of protecting you doesn’t change just because your memories are back,” the tech simply stated. 

“Aw, he really does care,” Malik teased. “He’s got a point, though, Shaali. People aren’t in awe of this type of innovation anymore, they’re scared of it.”

“After what happened, we can hardly blame them,” she responded. “And before any of you get started, Adam has already tried to talk me out of getting my arm replaced so I can hide what I am. That’s not going to happen.” 

“You do realize how sought-after someone like you will be if they ever find out,” Frank went on. “Damnit Jensen, you had one job.” 

“Hey, shut it, Pritchard. You try convincing someone who cares as much as she does to go into hiding and never use her nanites to heal again,” Adam said. “It’d be like telling you to stop spending so much damn time in the Tech Lab.” 

“Well, look at you, making a point,” Frank replied. “Fine. But don’t come crying to me if this happens again. Eight months of hell not knowing where you were…” he stopped talking when Shaali gave him another hug. “No, that wasn’t an invite. Stop it.” 

“I adore you too, Pritchard. I really do,” she said, ignoring his attempts to get away from her. “I can assure you, though, some new defences have already been put into place and I’m guessing Megan will have a few ideas as well.” 

“No doubt,” Frank agreed, throwing a glare in Jensen’s direction, noting the other man’s rather pleased expression at how out of his comfort zone he seemed to be.

“Jensen, is Shaali with you?” David came into the conversation then. “Athene just informed me she left the recovery wing a little while ago.” 

“Yeah boss, she’s here.” 

“Can you hear me, Shaali?” 

“Of course, I can.”

“Your mother is on her way in. Thought you might want to meet her in the foyer if you were close.”

“Actually, that works out well, considering I remember everything now and it’d be a great way to surprise her,” Shaali smirked at the sudden silence on the other end. 

“You what?!” Sarif responded.

“Everything is back, David. All of it. Come down too and I’ll show you,” the healer repeated, laughing at the excited sound now coming from the man who was like a father to her.

“On my way. Don’t you go anywhere until I get there, Shaali,” the CEO ordered.

Deactivating the communications device, the smile never left Shaali’s face, instinctively leaning in closer to Adam when he stepped up beside her and slipped his arm around her waist. “Let’s go meet him at the lift.”

“That was almost evil, Shaali,” Frank said. “I have to admit, I’m quite proud of you.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Warning** : A heads up on the Intimate Scenes in this one. It has been eight months, after all.
> 
> Here it is, the final part. Stolen is now complete. I can honestly say I am desperate for genuine feedback on the story and relationships I have established overall. So, please, don't be afraid to tell me how you see it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
> 
> A big thank you to the new readers I've picked up since joining up here. Just want to let you all know Shaali's backstory is still to come, and after reading this chapter you will also realise I have plans set after it as well. Many, many plans… so you have not seen the last of these two, that's for sure. A shout out to those who have supported me throughout this adventure, Helen, Mark, Shiro and Kashbugg in particular.
> 
> Oh, and lastly, the character of Kain is not my own. He has been introduced with the express and full permission of his creator, ukenceto (on DeviantArt). Again, a huge thank you goes out to her for letting me develop him.

* * *

Usually, a very patient man, this time, the ride down from the penthouse floor was nigh near driving him insane. Eventually, David would have something to say to Shaali about dropping such a bombshell like that. What was she trying to do, give him a heart attack? He’d have expected as such from Pritchard… then again, this just proved the daughter of one of his closest friends really was back. She could be just as cheeky at times, that glint in her eyes and her bad habit of saying sorry when it wasn’t really needed always giving away the difference. 

Even while the lift doors were still opening, Sarif searched the small group of people standing there waiting for him. When he couldn’t see Shaali, his face shifted into one of annoyance mixed with the anticipated joy of the moment. “Okay, Shaali, no. What did I say?” he reprimanded, looking around. “Come on, where are you?” 

“I’m right here,” she said, shifting back into focus directly in front of him. “I had to do that to show you. See, they’re working again.”

David laughed, cuddling her with such exuberance he picked her up slightly off the ground. “This is wonderful news, Shaali,” he said, his gaze catching Adam’s briefly. “So, it’s all there, everything? All the memories, how to use your tech? How you _received_ your tech? Everything?” 

“Yes, stop worrying, Dad,” she said, winking at him. 

David couldn’t help it, giving her a good look up and down, as if by doing so he’d be able to tell anyway. “We’ll have to double check it all, later on, make sure you’re functioning properly…” 

“That can wait, boss,” Jensen spoke up, the slight edge creeping back into his tone. 

“Of course, it can, son, I’m simply thinking of keeping her safe,” David promised, noticing the warning look Adam was giving him.

Tapped into the security of the building by means of a pathway Pritchard had long ago programmed into her nanites, Shaali’s eyes widened then. “Mum’s here,” she announced. “Everyone split up or she’s going to know something is going on.” 

“Okay, I’ll just go hide in the nearest office until you’ve told her. I’m not going to be able to keep the smile off my face,” Malik explained.

Shaali headed over and gently moved her along. “Well, hurry up then, she’s coming in through the front door, so head that way,” she all bar ordered, motioning to their right and shaking her head at Malik’s failed attempt at trying not to laugh. “Faridah, go!” 

“I’m going. I’m going,” she answered, disappearing from sight through the door just around the corner. 

Lifting her hand to softly run along the side of Adam’s face on the way past, Shaali continued on to the balustrade, looking down over the atrium and spotting her Mum talking with the receptionist. “Oh, hey Mum,” she called, careful to mask her tone with the lack of recognition. “I’m up here.” 

Nicky lifted her head slightly to locate her. “What are you doing out of bed?” she demanded. “Shaali, you’ve just had a major operation. I honestly don’t know what to do with you sometimes.”

“I’m fine, Mum,” she called, exchanging a smirk with Frank on the way around to meet her at the top of the stairs. 

“I swear you do remember me in some way because you’re not listening,” her Mum scowled.

“Mum, it’s all right, Sarif Industries has eyes and ears everywhere. I wasn’t on my own for very long.” 

“Athene was quick to let me know, Nicky,” David reassured her.

“Hmm, I suppose that’s something, I guess. And yes, you do have many looking out for you. Still, you’re under strict orders to…” abruptly stopping mid-sentence, Nicole reached up to take hold of her daughter’s chin, keeping her face steady while she had a closer look at eyes that were supposed to be entirely green.

“Hi Mum,” Shaali said, smiling. 

If Nicky was the type she would’ve fainted at the now reciprocated affection upon a face she’d so wanted to see identify her again. To glimpse the liquid black flecks playing within the irises looking back at her sent a wave of shock through her entire body, for a moment feeling like her knees were about to give way beneath the weight of the relief that accompanied it. Had she tried to speak, all that would’ve come out was a squeak, so she simply let go, pulled her daughter into her arms and hugged her in the protective way only a mother could.

“I know, Mum,” she whispered. “You were right. It’s okay. It’s all okay.” 

Her mother didn’t care David was right there, or that Adam, Frank, and Faridah were now joining them. No. Tears had started falling the moment she’d realised what was going on, for now, unable to let go of the only family she had left.

“We’re starting to draw a crowd,” Pritchard spoke up. “Might want to take this somewhere more private.” 

With another lingering squeeze, the two didn’t part entirely, Nicky slipping her right arm around Shaali's shoulders. “I can’t even express how happy I am,” she said. “I still think you need to go up and rest, though. Come on, it won’t hurt you. Anyone else you need to tell can come to you.” 

“Mum,” Shaali protested. “It’s more fun sneaking up on them. I thought you’d know that by now?”

“Really, Shaali,” Nicky answered. “Are you determined to make at least one of those you care about die from shock? Because I’ll freely admit I almost did.” 

“Maybe,” Sha admitted, with a grin. “You know me, I can’t help it. I have a cloak. I’m going to use it.” 

Everyone laughed, even Jensen, the honest emotion still somewhat novel to him. “You’re Mum’s right,” and at that, Adam saw Nicky raise an eyebrow at him. “Besides, at least up there we’ll have less eyes on us.”

It was only then Shaali really noticed the employees gathering around them, the three coming down from the stairway leading up to the third floor stopping just shy of merging. The young man that’d introduced himself as Elias the morning before was among them, looking like he’d just finished a morning workout session at the gym. At Shaali’s smile, the curiosity on his face changed to one of realisation, his eyes lighting up. 

“Does this mean…” he asked, words trailing off because he’d already guessed the answer. 

“Yes, Elias, I’ll be up there spotting for you again very soon,” she told him.

The guy honestly looked like he was about to burst, Pritchard rolling his eyes. “Right, and on that note, I’m going back up to the recovery room. Sha, I suggest you follow.” 

“But Francis, you have no idea how much fun this is,” Shaali said, catching up to him.

“Oh, I think I do,” Frank replied. “And would you stop calling me Francis.” 

Malik chuckled. “Get used to it, Pritchard. We’re baaack,” she teased, revelling in the slight hint of fear that came over his face.

“I suppose I could give him a break. Maybe start teasing him later. My memories have only been back for a little while, after all,” Evans said, spotting the smirk Adam was giving her as she got comfortable between him and Malik on the lift. “What?” she asked. 

“Nothing,” he said. “Just missed this, that’s all.” 

“I haven’t,” Frank butted in, huffing a little.

“Problem with you, Pritchard, is you react every time,” Jensen informed him. “Stop doing that and we might leave you alone.” 

“Yeah, right, like I believe that for a second,” the tech replied. 

“Children, children, do we really have to do this the entire ride up?” David said, the relaxed expression on his face belying the chastising tone. “Can’t we all just be pleasant to each other?”

Shaali leant her head on Adam’s shoulder, closing her eyes and allowing the feeling of satisfaction to wash over her. Everything was once again right within her world, the augmented arm slipping around her shoulders only serving to emphasise the point. She would’ve stayed that way the entire time, had not the lift doors opened just that little bit too early, revealing a certain scientist and friend on her way up to see how she was doing.

At the sight of them all there at once, Megan stopped abruptly, taking it all in and figuring out what was going on in seconds, Shaali’s proximity to Adam a dead giveaway. Much like Malik had, Reed just stood there, staring, mouth agape and eyes wide.

“Twenty dollars sees her faint,” Frank wagered. 

“No, I’m thinking heart attack,” Faridah was quick to follow through.

It was neither, Megan’s response one of reserved excitement combined with the need to witness the proof for herself. “Why am I the last one to know?” she asked, only half serious. “Come on, can you show me?” 

“Of course, I can,” Shaali said, her nanites already replying to the question.

Megan covered the short distance and took a hold of her friend’s hand, watching the liquid black flow out to cover it and slowly make its way up their host’s arm, forming the first layer of shielding and waiting to see if anything further was needed. Megan’s examining gaze moved to catch Shaali’s, the scientific curiosity and absolute awe written all over her face. “We should go in, see what’s happening. Make sure…” 

“We’ve already covered that,” Jensen said. “When she’s ready.” 

“Of course,” Megan agreed. “I just can’t wait to see what possible improvements they’ve made, or if anything has been lost…” she turned her attention to Shaali again. “You’d know if it was, has it?” 

“It’s all there, Megan,” Shaali assured her. “And I _am_ ready. Tell Nia, Declan and Eric to come up as soon as they can.” The Healer looked straight at David then. “I want another arm. I assume you have one ready and waiting for me by now?” 

“Yes, you know me too well,” David answered. “New and improved, top of the line, latest model too.” 

“I don’t want anything fancy, my old arm will do. My nanites can do all the improvements that are needed.” 

David raised an eyebrow, “And I knew you would say that, so I had a few options put away for you.” 

“Are you sure you’re ready to go through such a thing so soon, Shaali?” Nicky came into the conversation then, quite happy to just observe until now.

“It’s not like the one most patients have to go through, Mum. I’ll be fine,” she paused at the feeling of Adam shuddering slightly at the memory, her hand finding his.

By the time the biometric scanner had completed its last approval, Shaali was already sitting in the chair she now recognised to be for the purpose they’d been talking about on the lift. Coming in ahead of the rest of Megan’s team, David headed straight over to open the steel door in the tall cupboard set up alongside. Sliding out the rack with the varying arms in sealed packages hanging from it, he waited for her to make a decision. 

“White? With my dark features, are you kidding me?” she asked him, shaking her head a little. “Grey, no…” and then she saw it, just the perfect one, slightly different in design to Adam’s, yet the same shiny, solid black. “You should have just put that one aside for me,” she said, motioning to it. 

David nodded. “I had a feeling that’d be it. Just…” he paused, bringing his hand up to his chin in a thoughtful manner. “Are you positive you don’t want something more substantial than a blade this time? There are many weapon options we can incorporate now.” 

“My nanites are my weapons, David, you know that. I don’t want anything else other than the shell required for them to integrate with it. They’ll do the rest.” 

“No doubt,” David agreed, nodding towards Megan, who was already in the process of getting everything ready.

At Adam’s touch to her shoulder, Shaali looked up into eyes yet again telling her he didn’t fully agree with this. She responded to his concern with a reassuring smile and that same unwavering demeanour he’d seen in her earlier. Not only was there this desire to have the use of both arms, she simply refused to let him take on the future the news was foreshadowing last night alone.

“Ready?” Megan asked.

Shaali proceeded to take off the long-sleeved, aqua coloured shirt she was wearing on the one side, revealing nanites waiting on the surface of the mounting point Damien-Myne Psychiatric had left intact. With no evidence to give away it was from Sarif Industries, removing it had been deemed unnecessary.

Declan moved in to sterilise the area, a standard procedure even when he knew it wasn’t really required. He then took a hold of the top of the prosthetic, gently helping Megan to guide it in. Thanks to her nanites blocking any pain, it didn’t hurt the way it should’ve, but there was definitely a sensation Shaali couldn’t ignore, sitting up stock straight, and leaning back in the seat as her Tech reacted the moment the cybernetics linked to her shoulder with a click. She both felt and saw what was currently happening, some of them rushing in while others stayed at the connection site to meld and integrate this new augmentation into the nerves and tissue of her body. 

Inside, they familiarised themselves with what was really just a shell, taking note of where the outer casing would need to be thickened, aiding in giving it the enhanced strength the rest of her already possessed. Flowing through to the outside, they formed the shield, tested the cloak, making sure there was nothing to stop them from succeeding in using and protecting this metal extension of her just as they did the flesh. At their behest, Shaali then lifted her arm, watching the compartments in the appendage open, allowing the tiny machines to solidify into the Nanoblade, first flicking it forward over her wrist, then extending it back out past her elbow.

Adam couldn’t help but smirk at the sheer look of delight on her face, eyes shining and bright, loving every damn minute of it. To see her so happy like that was all he ever wanted. Well, maybe there was something else, and it was getting harder and harder to push it aside.

"Feeling good?” David asked. 

“Oh yeah,” Shaali said, with one of the biggest smiles they’d seen so far, the blade disappearing to allow Megan to double check everything was in working order. 

“I don’t even know what to say,” Eric spoke up then. “I’ve been waiting for this day for so long I’m kind of speechless.” 

“Oh, I know. We have her back. Everything is right again,” Nia agreed, nodding.

The conversations began to pick up around the woman in question, her Mum coming forward and giving her a cuddle Shaali could return in full this time. “I forgot how in tune with your nanites you are. I didn’t need to worry,” she said. 

“Told you,” Shaali answered, standing up, glancing around and realising Frank was right there beside her, reaching for her new arm with an expectant look on his face. Shaali smirked. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Reed’s expertise, the technician just wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d examined it for himself. 

“That party I was talking about, it’s happening tonight,” Faridah suddenly announced, closing the distance to her best friend. “We’ve got so much to celebrate.” 

“Ah, Malik, does it have to be tonight?” Shaali asked. “That’s kind of too soon. I need time to slip back into my old life again, go back to my apartment and just, well, live. I have been gone for eight months, you know?” 

“Yeah, I hadn’t noticed,” she shot back, with a grin. “And of course, I didn’t think of that. Sorry, I’m just so happy right now.” 

“I know, Faridah,” Shaali said, leaning in to give her a hug. She then whispered in her ear, “There is also someone else who needs me first.”

Faridah’s eyes widened. “Right, got it, no problem,” she said, stepping back. “Look, I can’t wait until tomorrow night, though. So, in the morning then?” 

“Yeah, that’ll work. Okay,” Shaali answered, moving away from the chair and out of the middle of the assembled crowd. She loved all of them so much but it was the man now following her lead she really wanted to be around. “I need to get out of here,” she told him. “This place is stifling.” 

“I bet,” was all he said, taking augmented fingers in his. “They’ll get it.” 

“Too bad if they don’t,” she told him, leaning up and giving him a kiss, this time finding there absolutely no resistance in pulling him along behind her and out of the room.

* * *

Despite wanting nothing more than to take the woman he adored in his arms and start showing her how much he’d missed her, something held him back. There was this knot deep in his stomach he couldn’t quite identify, and after verifying whether she wanted to see her home now or later, he followed Shaali into his own apartment, where she headed straight into the kitchen to do what she’d always done, fix them something to drink. 

In this case, a coffee, Shaali loving how the use of two hands now made the task much easier. That, and remembering where everything was made her smile. Well, where it used to be, Adam’s tendency not to put things away showing itself in full force while she was gone. “Adam, I swear… I had this place so tidy before. How hard is it to keep it that way?” she affectionately reprimanded him. 

Staring at the floor, Adam managed a smirk, even though the urge to just get out of there was strong. He didn’t understand it. He was happy, yet here he was also beginning to panic and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to control himself. “You were always better at that than me,” he replied, watching her movements from the hall. 

_Dammit! Get a grip, Jensen,_ he thought, shaking his head. He’d gone from wanting to be alone with her so badly, to wishing there were all the distractions again so he could stop himself from feeling this way. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he told her.

“Okay,” Shaali answered, concentrating on what she was doing. 

Taking off his coat and throwing it over the bed on his way past, Jensen disappeared into the bathroom to take a moment to try and collect himself. Confusion stared back at him as he looked in the mirror. What the hell was wrong with him? His girl was right there, her memories intact, the affection she had for him still so clear, and here he was, hiding! He couldn’t put his finger on what was going on, until he heard Shaali call, “You still have one sugar in your coffee, right?” it only then hitting him the normality was the problem. 

All of the tension, all of the worry, all of the concern had left his body the minute she’d revealed herself to him back in his office. From then on he’d been witness to the reactions of everyone else as they too learned her memories had returned. With it all happening so quickly he really hadn't had a chance to react. That’s what leaving Sarif Industries and being alone with her had finally done for him. The undeniable relief had started on the way back to the Chiron Building, continued to grow in the lift, and was now threatening to overwhelm him. 

Splashing his face with water, he tried to hold back the stinging behind his eyes. Stepping away from the sink and walking out of the room, he stopped, the sounds coming from the kitchen drifting to him through the bedroom door. Leaning his head to the side he couldn’t help but listen, while also picturing what exactly it was Shaali might’ve been doing. And suddenly, something so simple, so normal, so right, was all too much for him, augmented knees collapsing out from beneath. 

Shaali was putting the milk in the fridge when she heard Jensen fail at his attempt to let the emotion out in a way that hopefully no one else nearby would hear it. Instantly, she was out of the kitchen, her own concern amplified by that of her nanites. She located him, sitting with his back facing the side of the bed, leaning over with his forearms on his knees, and his head down between them. “Adam?” she asked, kneeling and placing her hand on his shoulder. Her mere touch seemed to cause a fresh set of tears to fall, so Shaali knew he wouldn't be answering anytime soon, signalling her nanites to enter through his neck to find out what was going on with all the permissions he had long ago given them. 

As they flowed through him, Adam sat up, looking at Shaali with such pain in his eyes she instantly reached to pull him in close, holding his head against her chest. “What’s wrong?” she said softly, her voice breaking a little. “Adam, what is it?” 

He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t have put into words how he was feeling even if he’d wanted to. Lifting his hand to take her arm, liquid black flowed out and back into her, relaying it all for him. His relief that she was back; his fear that he wouldn’t be able to protect her and she’d once again be taken away from him; and that unrelenting belief that he really didn’t deserve her in the first place. All of it had overtaken him at once, and, instead of fighting against the tide, he’d let it flow. He didn’t have to hide anything from the person he knew would always be there for him no matter what. 

She simply held him, closing her eyes and every so often gently running her hand through his hair. At some point, the crying ceased, and in the few seconds of silence that followed, Shaali could hear his heart beating, registering him move at about the same time she felt his breath on her neck, and his lips begin to play over her skin. Eyes opened wide at the reaction that instantly shot through her, everything else now forgotten as she leant into him, the soft sounds of yearning leaving her mouth before she could stop them.

Jensen took that as all the signal he needed, turning into her embrace and moving his hand down, slipping it under her shirt and back up again to touch that spot on her breast that would elicit the kind of reaction he’d been longing to see. When she threw her head back, he attacked her neck with all the desire that had been held within these past eight months, wanting nothing more than to show her just how much her being gone had affected him. Augmented fingers gently stroking the soft skin confined beneath her bra, she caught his gaze briefly, before removing the clothing to give him full access. 

Soon, she was undoing the combat vest, leaning down and running her tongue over the flesh and metal of his neck, careful never to avoid the bolts in his chest, her way of reassuring him she didn't see the difference.

He pulled her back up, lips finding hers again, the kiss only slightly broken as he manoeuvred her onto the bed. It was then they both took the time to discard the last of the obstacles in their way, Jensen smiling knowingly at the look Shaali was giving him as he moved up on top of her. She watched him getting closer and closer, teasing, and when his mouth finally enclosed around the nipple of her left breast, she gripped the cover of the bed, her body arching, entirely giving in to the pleasure just that alone sent coursing through her. It ignited the connections in-between, causing her nanites to react and play over her skin. Touching his face to get his attention, she asked for his consent without words, Adam lifting her hand and placing it on his cheek in answer. 

The bond her nanotech gave them was like nothing else he’d ever experienced, allowing him to not only see her react to everything he did but to also feel it as well. They were the extension of her that gave him the insight he needed to know the right areas to touch; the places to explore that little bit longer; the proof he needed that her love for him was real and just how deep it ran. Already entirely in the moment, this added sensory input, combined with the time they’d been apart, meant he couldn’t hold back any longer, kissing her again. Shaali clasped both sides of his face, the instant they became one sending a shockwave of ecstasy and adoration through her entire being. 

What followed was hard, fast and set to a rhythm that merely emphasised just how much this meant to the both of them. With such passion and longing bringing them together, it wasn’t long before the burning in the both of them reached its limit, Shaali’s climax coming just before his did, the last of Adam’s doubts disappearing within the sound he let out as he too felt his entire body convulse just a few times before it was all over. For him, at least, looking down into Shaali’s eyes and enjoying the fact he could see and feel she was still going, even while part of him thought it was completely unfair.

“Oh my goodness, I love you, Adam,” she said softly, their foreheads now touching, her nanotech using the opportunity to return to her again.

“I love you too,” he replied without any hesitation. 

Wiping at the sweat dripping down the side of his face, she put her arms around him, Adam leaning down into the embrace, careful not to put his entire weight upon her at the same time. “You okay now?” she asked him. 

Adam laughed softly. “You really have to ask?” 

“No,” Shaali said, smiling. “You know me, I just like to make sure.” 

Rolling off of her, Adam just smirked. “What that led in to made it all worthwhile,” he said.

“What? Adam, I’m serious!” she said, giving him a playful swat on the arm. 

“So am I,” he answered, the look on his face almost making her giggle. 

Shaali sat up, one leg falling off the edge of the bed, looking at nothing in particular, seeming to just stare into space. Noticing this, Jensen reached his hand up to find the small of her back beneath the long strands of dark hair. “Your turn,” he stated, knowing the expression well. 

“No, I’m actually okay, just… really content right now. I know it sounds strange but my mind has been so full of confusion lately I’m just having trouble coping with it not being there anymore.”

If anybody could understand that feeling it was a man who was still having trouble believing this part of his life was actually happening. “Don’t force it, not for any of us,” he told her. 

Shaali turned her attention to him, smiling. “I won’t,” she said. “I was wondering though if we could let Malik go ahead and throw that party for us tonight… would you be okay with that?” 

“To be honest, no,” Adam said. “But that’s only because I’m still not ready to share you yet.” 

“You’d get bored of me pretty quickly if it was just us for too long,” she told him, Shaali searching for the frequency to Faridah’s Infolink within the logs her nanites had compiled soon after she’d starting working security for Sarif Industries. “Hey Malik, you there?”

“Oh, hey Shaali, didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. What’s up?” 

“Adam and I have been talking…” 

“I bet that’s not all you’ve been doing,” the younger woman interrupted. 

“Malik!” Shaali exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. “Just wanted to let you know to go ahead and set up that office party for us tonight. We’ll be there.” 

“Oh, sweet! I’m on it. This is going to be so good. Thanks, Shaali. Malik out.”

“She’ll manage to get every single employee in the building to attend, you know that?” 

Shaali’s excited face turned towards him. “Yeah, I do. It’s going to be awesome!” Leaning over, she planted another kiss on his lips, “I’m going to have a shower. Back soon.” 

Adam watched her go, hands now moving to clasp together behind his head, closing his eyes and just lying there, his own deep sense of contentment sinking in. At the sound of the shower running, he smirked, the thought only occurring to him then. 

Gone from the visual spectrum before he was even fully off the bed, he covered the distance and silently observed the woman he loved through glass covered in steam and condensation, wondering if she knew he was there. Didn’t matter to him either way, soon moving to open the door and step up behind her. He saw her register his presence at the same time he moved her hair aside and started kissing her shoulder, trailing his mouth across the top of her back… and that was all it took for her to be putty in his arms again for the next half an hour, the warmth of the water merely adding to the sensation of the two of them taking it slow, determined to explore every part of each other this time around. 

Jensen left the bathroom before she did, Shaali standing there, a shiver of absolute attraction running up and down her spine. Turning off the taps, she went through the process of drying herself off and getting changed into the outfit she’d be wearing to the party in advance, the dark purple pantsuit custom made with removable sleeves in case she ever found herself thrown into combat while wearing it.

In the middle of putting her hair up into a ponytail, she came back out of the bathroom, alerted to something being wrong when she found Adam sitting at his computer, absolutely deadpan and staring at it. “What’s happened?” she asked.

He couldn’t speak, just reached up and pressed play on the video currently paused on the monitor: 

“Hello Adam, I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I sent this to you any other way. My name is Kain, and I’m your twin brother. You’re only learning of this now because the genome White Helix Labs found in you was still dormant when they came looking for it in me,” not identical in appearance to Jensen, yet still holding a very uncanny resemblance, the man on the screen chose then to lift up an augmented arm, his right one. “As you can see, that is not the case anymore. I won’t say anything further, not via a form of communication that can so easily be listened in to. It’s not safe for those like us out there anymore, Jensen. It’s time for me to come out of hiding. Tell your hacker friend to expect a place of meet from me very soon,” and with that, the video went blank.

Her mouth hanging slightly open, Shaali searched for the time the recording had been sent through, noting it was after Adam had headed to work earlier this morning. So, on the same day her memories returned, someone who was claiming to be Adam’s twin brother was coming out of the woodworks. Hell yes, this Kain had been right about not believing him unless the two of them had seen his face for themselves! Even then… it was so easy for a number of factions to dress someone up to resemble anyone they wanted to these days. Heck, they could just replace the parts they needed with prosthetics, completely changing the way they looked entirely without much effort at all. 

"Hey," she said quietly, getting her boyfriend’s attention. “What do you want to do about this?” 

Jensen just shook his head. “Not now,” was all he said, regretting how that sounded the instant he felt her hand lift off his shoulder and she stepped away from him. She wasn’t offended, merely taking the hint to give him some space. His eyes followed her starting to walk away, reaching out and grabbing her arm, standing up to pull her back into his embrace.

At the gentle squeeze of his hand, Adam caught Shaali's loving gaze, the promise intermingled with green, and flecks of Nano-black…

Whatever came next and, whoever this Kain really proved to be, Jensen knew he wouldn't be facing it alone.

* * *


End file.
